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THE RANGERS’ CODE 













THE 

RANGERS’ CODE 

BY 

JOHNSTON McCULLEY 

AUTHOR OF “BROADWAY BAB” 



NEW YORK 

G. HOWARD WATT 
558 MADISON AVE. 
1924 

'Tf 




Copyright, 1924, by 
G. HOWARD WATT 


All rights reserved, including that of translation into 
foreign languages, Scandinavian included 





1 


Printed in the United States of America 

Copyright, 1923, Street & Smith, Corporation 

AUG 21 1924 1 ^ 

©C1A800535 



TO RUTH 

THE WIFE OF MY YOUTH, 
WHO STILL ABIDES WITH ME. 



CONTENTS 


chapter page 

I. A Stranger in Town. 1 

II. Two Encounters ... 18 

III. A Perilous Dance. 35 

IV. Fistic Combat. 52 

V. Highway Signs. 64 

VI. The Girl on the Trail ..... 77 

VII. In the Enemy’s Country .... 85 

VIII. Where Rogues Gather. 94 

IX. Straight Talk . 104 

X. To a Lady’s Aid. ,122 

XI. Love’s First Flush . . . . . 138 

XII. The Prisoner.. 147 

XIII. The Rescue. 158 

XIV. A Night in Jail. ,170 

XV. Myrtle Comes to Town. 181 

XVI. Caught in a Trap . . . . ., 195 

XVII. To Ride for Help., 210 
















CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XVIII. Woman’s Courage. 225 

XIX. Important Work To Do . . ., . . 236 

XX. Ganley’s First Move. 247 

XXI. Branded!. 259 

XXII. Smoke of Battle. 268 

XXIII. The Dare to Draw . . . . . .278 

XXIV. King and Queen.. . 290 








THE RANGERS’ CODE 


CHAPTER I 

A STRANGER IN TOWN 

T HERE was no doubt in the minds of 
those who knew him best that Sheriff 
Tom Thomas had his defects, the same 
as the general run of members of the human 
race, but one thing even his enemies admitted 
—he could 4 ‘size up” a man. 

And now he glanced from the letter which 
he had been reading and looked carefully at 
the newcomer who stood at one end of the desk, 
fumbling with his battered hat and glancing 
through the nearest fly-specked window at the 
busy main street of Goldland, the county seat. 

There was a whimsical smile upon the stran¬ 
ger’s lips, as though what he saw in the street 
amused him. He was more than six feet tall 
and inclined to be willowy. His body sagged, 
as though with weariness. His arms hung 
1 


2 THE HANGERS’ CODE 

limply. There was an expression of fatigue 
in his countenance—not the fatigue that comes 
from hard work or hard play, but rather from 
boredom with the world and its assortment of 
people. He was dressed after the manner 
of the range country, and evidently he was no 
stranger to the modes of travel in the waste 
places. His clothes had seen much service. 
His face had been bronzed by the sun and the 
wind and the weather. His chin was firm, and 
his eyes were clear. 

But Sheriff Tom Thomas had seen a hun¬ 
dred men with those valuable qualities, and 
he was looking for some man who had just a 
little bit more to offer. He had almost de¬ 
spaired of finding one, and now this stranger • 
had ridden into the town bearing a letter from 
an old friend of Thomas’, a man whom the 
sheriff had not seen for more than ten years. 

The official glanced at the newcomer once 
more. This time he gave particular attention 
to the belt and holster and gun the stranger 
wore. Being a gunman himself, the sheriff 
could tell a lot about a man by the way he wore 
his gun. And this man, who stood at the end 
of the desk and watched the street through 


A STRANGER IN TOWN 3 

the window, gave the impression that he did 
not carry a weapon for ornamental purposes 
only. But a man never can tell. 

“This letter seems to be all right,” the 
sheriff said suddenly. 6 ‘ Glad that you dropped 
in to see me. So you are looking for a job, 
are you? Take a chair!” 

The stranger turned his gaze from the open 
window, smiled down at the sheriff, and sat 
in the chair at the end of the desk. He seemed 
to fold up his legs like the legs of a camp cot. 
Sheriff Tom Thomas almost grinned, but he 
did not. He had known hot-headed men who 
had shot to kill because of a grin at the wrong 
moment and in the wrong place, and he was not 
sure yet of the real character of the man before 
him. 

“You are the Dick Ganley mentioned m 
this letter?” Sheriff Thomas asked. 

“I reckon.” 

“TT’m!” the sheriff grunted. “The man 
who wrote this letter is an old friend of mine.” 

“So he said,” the stranger replied, “but I 
ain’t aimin’ to hold that agin you.” 

The sheriff laughed a little. “Have you 
known him long?” he asked. 


4 


THE BANGERS’ CODE 

“Yell! He has been a great friend of my 
dad, too. He spanked me often when I was a 
little shaver, whenever my dad got tired, byt 
reckoned that I still needed spankin’.” 

The sheriff laughed again. “How old are 
you, Ganley?” he wanted to know. 

“I’m goin’ on twenty-nine, if I remember 
right. I never was good on dates.” 

“Where from?” 

“Texas.” 

“But you don’t speak like a Texan.” 

“I reckon not. I meant that I came from 
Texas last. I just went home there for a little 
visit, and when I got all ready to roam again 
they gave me that letter and said as how I 
might drop over here into Arizona and look 
you up. I never played around Arizona much, 
so I thought that I’d just drop in on you. I’ve 
seen lots worse places.” 

“I see,” the sheriff grunted. “Where were 
you before you were in Texas?” 

“You’re askin’ a lot of questions,” Dick 
Ganley intimated, his eyes narrowing for an 
instant, “but I guess that it’s all right, since 
I’m seekin’ a job. I’ve been almost every 
place, I reckon. I was down in South America 


A STRANGER IN TOWN 


5 


for a while, but I didn’t like it much. I learned 
to speak the lingo, and a man gets plenty of 
sleep and slumber down that away. They go 
in for these siesta things, but I just couldn’t 
get acquainted with the grub. I like lots of 
grub, and I want it just so.” 

“Had a lot of adventures?” 

“Some,” Dick Ganley admitted modestly. 
“I was a colonel in a revolutionary army in 
one of them frijole countries. It wasn’t much 
of a job, but I had to have a job just then, and 
there wasn’t anything else.” 

“Like it?” the sheriff asked. 

4 4 Naw! That army wasn’t worth much. The 
men all ran when the fightin’ started, and I 
had to fight the loyal troops alone. I fought 
’em all day; and at sunset they sent a flag of 
truce and offered to make me a general if I’d 
switch sides.” 

“You’re inclined to be modest, aren’t you?” 

“Meanin’ that I’m braggin’?” Dick Ganley 
asked. 44 My good gosh, that ain’t anything to 
brag about! I’m just tellin’ you what hap¬ 
pened. I told ’em that I didn’t want to be a 
general unless I could have steaks smothered 
in onions and ham and eggs and regular coffee 


6 


THE HANGERS’ CODE 


all the time. They didn’t know what I was 
talkin’ about, so I just walked away and left 
’em.” 

“I see,” said Sheriff Tom Thomas, his eyes 
glittering suddenly and with meaning. 

“When I got down to the nearest port, they 
tried to stop me,” Dick Ganley continued. “It 
seems as how they was determined to make 
me stay there and be a regular citizen, or else 
shoot me against a wall. But I couldn’t see 
things that way.” 

“I suppose you swam to the nearest island 
and escaped?” the sheriff asked, sneering a 
bit. 

“My good gosh, no! I ain’t very much of a 
swimmer. I knocked down the officer in charge 
of the squad and got aboard a banana boat 
that was in the harbor. The boat hadn’t taken 
on her cargo yet, but I was right eager to get 
away from there, and so I persuaded the skip¬ 
per that he’d better sail pronto!” 

“Was that hard to do?” 

“No, sir,” Dick Ganley said. “I had my 
six-gun in one hand and a couple of gold pieces 
in the other, and I let the skipper take hjs 
choice. He took the gold.” 


A STRANGER IN TOWN 


7 


Sheriff Tom Thomas settled himself lower 
in his chair and deftly rolled and lighted a 
cigarette. The sheriff admired a great man 
in any line of life, even in the line of false¬ 
hood, and he firmly believed that he was look¬ 
ing npon one now. 

“Have there been any other little moments 
of excitement in yonr short career ?” the 
sheriff wanted to know. 

“A few, I reckon,’’ Dick Ganley replied, 
rolling a cigarette of his own. “I had some 
fun down in the South Seas once. I got doped 
and put on an island schooner. A bunch o’ 
thieves ran her, poachin’ for pearls and raidin’ 
tradin’ stations. They got quite a lot of pearls, 
too.” 

“Yeh?” the sheriff questioned. 

“Yes, sir! I never saw so many pearls be¬ 
fore or since. But they sure made me mad. 
They wanted me to work too much, and the 
grub wasn’t fit to eat. So I just naturally 
cleaned up the skipper and his two bucko 
mates and licked half the crew. Then I took 
charge, and we set sail back to where we came 
from.” 

“You did?” 


8 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 

“Yes, sir! One of them government boats 
overtook us, and stopped us, too. I tried hard 
to explain all about it, but the government 
officer seemed to think that I was the king 
of the poachers myself, and he was goin’ to 
arrest me. Of course I couldn’t stand for any¬ 
thing like that.” 

“Certainly not!” said the sheriff. 

“And so what happened was entirely his 
own fault. If he had taken my word, it 
wouldn’t have happened.” 

“What did happen*?” 

“Oh, I just refused to be arrested,” Dick 
Ganley replied, flicking the ash from his cigar¬ 
ette. “I knocked the captain down and took 
his gun away and held up all the others. Then 
I made my Kanakas hog tie ’em, and we sailed 
the government boat to the nearest island and 
went ashore. They were right down mad about 
it, I heard afterward.” 

“Have you confined your adventures to 
foreign lands'?” the sheriff asked, trying hard 
not to smile. 

“Not exactly,’’ Dick Ganley replied. 6 ‘I was 
in New York once. Shucks! Them New York 
gangsters ain’t so much! One of their gun- 


A STRANGER IN TOWN 


9 


men got mad at me and took a shot at me from 
the end of a dark alley. Only hit me in the 
shoulder.” 

“Rotten shooting,” the sheriff commented. 

“You betcha!” 

“I suppose you massacred him?” 

“Nope! I wasn’t mad at him at all. I just 
took his gun away from him and smashed some 
sense into his head with it and told him what 
I thought of him and his whole gang, and then 
I went away from there.” 

“Perhaps it was just as well,” the sheriff 
said weakly. “How about the West? Ever 
had any adventures near home?” 

“I was in the Texas Rangers for a spell.” 

Sheriff Tom Thomas sat up quickly in his 
chair, having a sudden feeling that he had 
been fooled. 

“You dratted fool!” the sheriff exploded. 
< ‘ Why didn’t you tell me that at first ? If that 

is true, it’s all that I need to know, unless- 

They didn’t kick you out of the rangers for 
any reason, did they?” 

“I reckon not. They wanted me to stay and 
be an officer, but I didn’t want to settle down.” 



10 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


“Are you lying to me?” the sheriff de¬ 
manded suddenly. 

Dick Ganley’s right hand dropped swiftly 
to his belt, and his eyes narrowed. “A man 
who ain’t a fool is generally mighty careful 
what kind of words he uses, ’ ’ the stranger said. 

There was silence for an instant. 

The sheriff almost choked again. He had 
seen that lightninglike move of the other’s 
hand, as though it had been mechanical and 
unconscious, showing that the move often had 
been made before. Either the man before him 
Was a great liar, or a natural-born and lucky 
fighter, and the sheriff did not know which. 
Under the circumstances he did not want to 
make a mistake. 

“I’ve got a job open,” the sheriff said, eager 
to change the subject. “It’s a deputy’s job, 
of course. It’s such a tough job that none of 
the men around here will take it, and I’ve got 
authority to hire an outsider.” 

“Sounds good!” Dick Ganley said. 

“Know much about this county?” 

“No, sir.” 

“Away over in one corner of it there is a 
little town called Cactusville,” the sheriff re- 


A STRANGER IN TOWN 


11 


lated. “It’s a good many miles from the rail¬ 
road, and it’s a lot of miles from here. It 
is in a valley of waste land, hot as blazes, but 
there are some mines and ranches back in the 
canons and hills.” 

“I getcha!” 

“The town is cut off from the world, a man 
might say. Understand? Once or twice a 
month they have a great time and cut up rough. 
That is when the mines or ranches pay off their 
help.” 

“Uh-huh!” 

“It is so danged far away and hard to get at 
that I can’t fuss with it much. I’ve had half 
a dozen deputies stationed there, but they don’t 
seem to last.” 

“No?” 

“No!” the sheriff said. “They plugged 
three of my men, and the crimes never were 
fastened on anybody. They sent one back to 
me, mistreated and almost insane. Two others 
just naturally took one look and quit. And 
they were all good men, too!” 

“I reckon that there must be quite a few bad 
hombres in this here town of Cactusville.” 

“There is a tough gang there that rules the 


12 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


town,’* the sheriff explained. “They own the 
stores and the saloons, with a few exceptions, 
and what they do not own they control by 
terrifying the proprietors. When pay day 
comes they fleece the miners and punchers. 
All kinds of gambling open! Liquor sold 
openly, too—poor stuff at that. It’s out of the 
way and small fry for the Federal men. They 
make the days and nights hideous in Cactus- 
ville when pay day comes along.” 

“Must be tough!” Dick Ganley said. 

“And when they can’t get the men to drink 
and gamble, they just smash ’em on the head 
and rob ’em,” the sheriff went on. “They’ve 
even got a regular hill where they plant their 
victims. They even brag about it. ” 

41 TJh-huh! ’ ’ Ganley grunted. 

“Now and then, one of them drifts over here 
to Goldland, but he generally behaves when he 
does. We never arrest any of them over in 
Caetusville, because we couldn’t convict them 
if we did. They’d kill off an honest judge or 
prosecuting attorney, and they’d be sure to 
pack the jury box.” 

“I getcha!” 

“But the town of Caetusville must be 


A STRANGER IN TOWN 


13 


cleaned up!’ ’ the sheriff declared. 6 ‘ People in 
other parts of the county are commencing to 
complain about it. Those crooks robbed a rich 
mining man a couple of weeks ago, and his 
friends are raising hades about it. Something 
must be done!” 

“Yeh?” 

u We know some of the members of the gang, 
but we can’t prove anything on them,” the 
sheriff continued. “ There seems to be some 
unknown man at the head of it, and they refer 
to him as the King of Cactusville.” 

“Huh!” Ganley grunted. “I never did go 
much on kings.” 

“A man by the name of ‘Snake’ Howger— 
which suits him exactly—is one of them, but 
I do not think that he is the big boss. Rut he 
is one of the most important. There are two 
other men, Bob Draige and ‘Stub’ Stibes, who 
figure prominently in the gang. Bob Draige 
is here in Goldland right now.” 

“Here?” 

“Yes, and it would only be nonsense for me 
to throw him into the jail, for I can’t prove 
a thing on him. He grins right in my face, 
dang him! He came here to record a mining 


14 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 

claim, which I suppose the gang stole from 
some poor old cuss of a prospector. But he 
isn’t at all liable to make any sort of a break 
while he is in town. ” 

“Uh-huh!” Dick Ganley grunted. 

“I am right eager to send another deputy 
to Caetusville, and I hate to do it. He must 
be a real man. I can’t go myself now, because 
the court session is due to open in a few days, 
and I have to be here. And it wouldn’t do any 
good for me to go unless I took a posse along, 
and if I did that they’d simply behave until we 
came away, and then tear loose again. I can’t 
afford to keep a dozen deputies there all the 
time.” 

“I should think not!” 

“And I can’t get a regular man in town to 
take the job,” the sheriff went on. ‘ 4 Under the 
circumstances I can’t say that I blame them 
much.” 

“Why, it sounds like a right nice job to me!” 
Dick Ganley remarked. 

“It does, hey?” the sheriff grunted. 

“Yeh! What does she pay?” 

“A hundred a month, your horse- 

“Got my own hoss!” 



A STRANGER IN TOWN 15 

“Gun-” 

“And my own gun!” 

“Ammunition, expense money when neces¬ 
sary, and your regular living expenses,’’ the 
sheriff continued. “I had to work hard to 
get the commissioners to put up for the living 
expenses, but they finally did it. But it wasn’t 
any extra inducement to the men of this here 
town. What’s the use of having somebody 
paying your living expenses when you aren’t 
going to live long enough to run up any*?” 

“Not much!” Dick Ganley admitted. 

“You came here to me with a letter from 
an old friend of mine and a string of big talk 
that may be more than two-thirds yarns, for 
all that I know,” the sheriff said. “But I 
wouldn’t want you to go over to Cactusville 
and right away get filled with lead, since my 
old friend sent you here.” 

“That’d be strictly up to me,” Dick Ganley 
replied. “A man ought to be able to take care 
of hims elf. I’m my own boss, and I don’t aim 
to get filled with lead!” 

“I want to impress on your mind that every¬ 
thing I have said to you is true, and I haven’t 


16 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


told you the half of it, either. That’s a right 
tough gang, and no mistake!” 

“Uh-huh!” 

‘ 1 Do you mean to tell me that you’d take such 
a job after all that I have said?” 

Dick Ganley did not hesitate the fraction of 
a second. “Sure!” he replied. “When do I 
leave?” 

“Not so fast, Ganley! I haven’t sworn you 
in yet. And I haven’t said yet that you can 
have the job. I’ll have to think it over. I’ve 
got a responsibility in this affair, you must 
understand. It is almost dusk now. You come 
in to see me the first thing in the morning.” 

“All right!” 

“Fixed for money?” 

“ Yeh! I’ve got a couple of hundred or so, I 
reckon,” Dick Ganley said. “That’ll last me 
until mornin’, maybe, if I don’t get reckless 
with it.” 

Dick Ganley got up out of the chair, 
stretched his long form, put on his hat, smiled 
at the sheriff again, and then walked slowly 
and lazily from the office and out into the 
street. The official looked after him and 


A STRANGER IN TOWN 17 

scratched softly at his head, as he always did 
when he was badly puzzled. 

“He’s either a great liar, or a great man!” 
Sheriff Tom Thomas told himself finally. 
“And I’ll be hanged if I can tell which— 
yet!” 

Which did not mean that Sheriff Tom 
Thomas could not “size up” a man any more, 
but that there were times when he needed more 
than half an hour in which to do it. 


CHAPTER II 


TWO ENCOUlSrTERS 

G ANLEY stopped just outside the door 
’ of the sheriff’s office and rolled himself 
a fresh cigarette. As he lighted it, he 
glanced at the street over his cupped hands. 
Goldland was at that mystic hour, enjoyed by 
Western towns of a certain kind, when men 
shift from daylight to dark, as methodically 
and as mechanically as the sun sets. 

With the coming of dusk there had come a 
new spirit and a new feeling. The onerous 
business of the day was over, the necessary 
commercial strife, and now the citizens of 
the town, for the greater part, settled down 
to the still more serious business of play. 

Down from the distant hills came a breath 
of cool breeze to waft aside the heat waves that 
had danced during the day. Flaring kerosene 
lamps were lighted and spread their illumina¬ 
tion through fly-specked windows and across 
18 


TWO ENCOUNTERS 19 

the walks in uncertain splotches. Men walked 
up and down the street and stopped before the 
hitching racks to talk to acquaintances and 
strangers alike. 

This place was full of bustling life. 

From one of the resorts there came a sudden 
burst of so-called music, hammered out on a 
tin-pan piano that had been imported to Gold- 
land years before. Dance-hall girls could be 
seen hurrying to their places of work. Citi¬ 
zens of the town, merchants, dealers in cattle 
and metals, cow-punchers in from the range, 
miners down from the mines, questionable 
male characters, with hands too white and nails 
too carefully trimmed, mingled in the throng. 

Dick Ganley had seen this thing before, and 
in numerous places, yet it held for him a cer¬ 
tain interest, the more so because these men of 
Goldland were strangers to him. But he knew 
that they would not all be strangers long. 
Following the way of the West, they would 
accept him for the time being, watch him and 
appraise him, and then decide whether to 
accept him fully, or cast him aside as a man 
in whom they did not care to have a special 
interest. 


20 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

Ganley crossed the street and entered a 
restaurant conducted by a Chinese cook. He 
ordered steak smothered with onions, coffee 
and apple pie, the regular feasts of the range 
country when it is not ham and eggs and beans. 

Until the blonde waitress slapped the food 
down before him on the counter, he regarded 
the street through the open doors, sitting 
cross-legged on the high stool. But when the 
food finally was before him, he ate as a hungry 
man eats, and a healthy one, ate until the steak 
was but a bone, the onions and potatoes were 
but things of memory, and there remained 
nothing but a dark stain in the coffee cup. 
Then he got up and walked slowly along the 
counter to pay his check and take a handful 
of toothpicks. The blonde waitress acted also 
as cashier. 

44 Stranger?” she asked, arching her brows. 

“To this here town, yes, ma’am,” Ganley 
replied, his eyes twinkling. “I just rode in 
the middle of the afternoon.” 

“You’ll like Goldland,” she said. 

4 4 Uh-huh! ’ ’ Ganley grunted. 4 4 1 like almost 
any town unless it’s too tame. ” 

She smiled across the counter at him, as she 


TWO ENCQUNTEES 21 

gave Ganley his change. 44 Going to remain 
long?” she asked. 

44 There’s no telling” 

44 Puncher?” 

Ganley looked straight at her. 4 4 Who wants 
to know?” he asked. 

She pouted. “Oh, well, if that’s the way 
you look at it-” 

“I don’t aim to be gruff, sister,” Dick Gan¬ 
ley told her, “only I just naturally hate 
answerin ’ questions. ’ ’ 

“So that’s the way of it, huh?” she said. 
“I suppose you’d hate to have a sheriff go 
askin’ questions?” 

Ganley grinned. “Well, your sheriff has 
already done asked me a few, and I ain’t in 
jail, ’ ’ he answered. 4 4 1 ain’t any fugitive from 
justice, if that’s what you want to know. Why, 
I brought your sheriff a friendly letter from 
an old friend of his. I’m lookin’ for a job.” 

44 Any particular kind?” she wanted to 
know. 

44 You sure can ask questions,” he said. 
4 4 Waste of time to drag the thing out that a 
way. My name’s Dick Ganley. I’m from Texas. 
I’m twenty-nine and free and white and vote 


22 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

the Democratic ticket because my dad would 
shoot me if I voted any other. I’ve got a hoss 
and a gun and a few bucks in my pants pocket. 
No brothers or sisters. 5 ’ 

“Huh! Think you’re smart, don’t you?” 
she sneered. 

“You started it,” he reminded her. 

Ganley smiled at her and got another smile 
by way of reply. 

“My name’s Myrtle Baines,” she told him. 

“It’s a right nice name.” 

“Glad you like it,” she sniffed. “Looking 
for excitement, are you?” 

“Always!” Ganley said. 

“I used to live in Cactusville. That’s the 
town for excitement. Only you have to stand 
in with the gang if you want to live long 
enough to enjoy it.” 

“Seems to me I’ve heard tell of that town,” 
Ganley admitted. “Maybe I’ll visit it one of 
these days.” 

“Better take along an extra gun if you do,” 
she told him. “I’m going back on a visit in a 
couple of weeks myself, maybe.” 

“Won’t that be nice?” Ganley said. “My 
hoss don’t carry double, though.” 


TWO ENCOTTNTEBS 


23 


“It don’t need to,” she assured him. 
“Speaking of excitement, there’s a dance to¬ 
night.” 

“Yeh? And you call that excitement?” 
Ganley asked. 

“It might prove to be if you tried to dance 
with me.” 

“Meanin’ that you’d scratch out my eyes 
if I asked you?” 

“Oh, not that!” she said. “But there’s a 
gent here from Cactusville, and he’ll expect to 
dance with me all the time.” 

“Yeh?” 

“Yeh!” she said. “His name is Bob Draige. 
I’ve known him for years. He’s taken quite a 
fancy to me, but it won’t do him any good. 
He keeps his distance, ’cause I make him. 
But he’d sure make mincemeat of any other 
gent who tried to dance with me. And it spoils 
things for me, I can tell you. No man in town 
will ask me to dance when Bob Draige is in 
the hall. And there are a lot I’d rather dance 
with than him.” 

“Me, for instance?” 

“If you are a good dancer,” she said. 

“Oh, I can step around some,” Dick said. 


24 


THE HANGERS’ CODE 


“Why don’t you just refuse to dance with that 
jasper if he pesters you so?” 

“He’s the kind of man that you want to keep 
friendly with.” 

“Yeh?” Dick asked. “That powerful, is 
he ? Huh! I wasn’t thinkin’ of attendin’ any 
dance this evenin’, But I might he tempted to 
do it. Ain’t any fun goin’ to a dance unless 
you dance, o’ course. Now, if I was to come 
to that dance, would you dance with me?” 

“If you asked me—and Bob Draige let 
you.” 

“Well, I’m askin’ you now.” 

“I’d be pleased,” she said. “But it’d get 
you into trouble. I’m not foolin ’. Bob Draige 
is a mean cuss. He’s one of the boss men over 
at Cactusville, and he’s mean right here in the 
county seat, too, right under the sheriff’s 
nose.” 

“I’d admire to meet up with such a jasper,” 
Ganley said. 

“Well, if you’ve got your nerve with you, 
I’ll give you a dance.” 

“Thanks. I ain’t got my wardrobe with me, 
so I can’t dress up.” 

“I suppose that’s an excuse!” she sniffed. 


TWO ENCOUNTERS 


25 


“Your clothes won’t make any difference, so 
you can’t stay away now on account of them. 
And you’re pretty husky. They check guns 
at the door, you see.” 

“Uh-huh! Meanin’ that it’ll be an affair 
for fists only^ Shucks! I don’t believe any 
of it. If I can get there, I’ll sure remind you 
of that dance.” 

Dick Ganley grinned at her and went out 
upon the street again. He had seen the Myrtle 
Baines type scores of times, girls who worked 
hard and sought a bit of entertainment when 
and where they could, girls to whom a cheap 
dance was an evening’s rare pleasure. Some 
of them were weak, but the greater number 
were able to care for themselves. 

Myrtle Baines, Ganley decided, belonged to 
the latter class. She thought nothing of flirt¬ 
ing with a stranger and half coaxing him to 
attend a dance with her. It would be a triumph 
in her own little world to be seen dancing first 
with a new man come to town. 

Ganley grinned and went on up the street, 
walking slowly, bumping against other pedes¬ 
trians without apology. He had not lied when 
he had told the sheriff that he had about two 


26 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


hundred dollars in his pockets. But he was 
hoping that the sheriff would give him the 
deputy’s job just the same. Ganley always 
felt better, always felt anchored, when he had 
a job. He wanted excitement and adventure, 
and there was always an added spice if it came 
on the side of the law. 

He walked the length of the street, crossed 
over, and started back along the other side. 
Presently he came to a large resort that bore 
the name “Recreation Center.” The place 
had been a saloon, dance hall, and gambling 
den, years before, Ganley judged, and prob¬ 
ably it had been the biggest place in town in 
Goldland’s hectic days when the metal strike 
was new. 

Ganley swung through the doors and en¬ 
tered. The place already was jammed. There 
was the old bar with a couple of bartenders 
behind it. There were signs giving lists of 
soft drinks, but Ganley did not doubt that a 
man known to be safe could procure illicit 
liquor, if he wished it. Ganley went to the 
bar and consumed a bottle of lemon pop, more 
from force of habit than from the fact that he 
wanted the drink. Then he turned from the 


TWO ENCOXJNTEKS 27 

close scrutiny of the bartender and glanced 
around the big room. 

In the rear there was an old-fashioned 
dance hall, with a man at the piano and dance- 
hall girls at work. It was the same old thing 
with new trimmings. No unattached man look¬ 
ing for recreation and wanting a dance could 
expect to dance with one of those girls unless 
he purchased soda or sarsaparilla and paid 
four prices for it. In the old days, of course, it 
had not been soda, and in those days there was 
a chance of a man getting intoxicated and 
liberal. 

Gambling games were running along one 
side of the room and in another little room 
adjoining, but the place seemed rather tame. 
Sheriff Tom Thomas made no attempt to pro¬ 
hibit gambling, since the most of these men 
had known it all their lives; but there were 
no huge stakes, such as there had been in years 
gone by. 

There was a roulette game, a faro layout, 
and a half dozen poker tables. Dick Ganley, 
his hands itching for the feel of the cards, 
walked slowly toward the latter. He watched 
the games for a time and decided that they 


28 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


were very ordinary. Finally a player left his 
chair, throwing wide his hands to intimate that 
he was done. It was an open game, and Ganley 
slipped into the chair before any other could 
reach it. 

He purchased two stacks of chips and then 
raised his head and glanced at the four other 
players. They, too, were ordinary, with one 
exception. The exception sat almost straight 
across the table from him. He was a short, 
thick man, with a mass of black hair that was 
rather unkempt, a long black mustache, and a 
face upon which cruelty was stamped. 

The cards were dealt, and the game was 
continued silently, each man with his mind 
upon the game and nothing else. Dick Ganley 
studied his opponents for the first few hands. 
It was quite an ordinary game, he told himself. 
And then he settled down to business, for poker 
was a business with him when he played it with 
strangers. The cards seemed to be running 
in the usual fashion. Ganley wasted his two 
stacks of chips without getting much action, 
and he was compelled to purchase again. And 
when he did it he flashed his roll. 

He had not meant to do it, but he found that 


TWO ENCOUNTERS 


29 


all his money except some small change was in 
the roll. He peeled off a bill, and the man 
across the table saw and estimated the amount. 
A gleam came into his eyes. And then the 
cards began acting in a strange manner, and 
the eyes of Dick Ganley narrowed slightly 
when he noticed it. He won a couple of good 
pots, lost one, played even for a time. Again 
he won, all dropping out except Ganley and the 
man across the table. And when the man 
across the table dealt again, Ganley found that 
he had an ace full. The others dropped out. 
Once more it was between Ganley and the man 
across the table. Ganley put his cards down 
before him and calmly rolled and lighted a 
cigarette. 

“This hand of mine looks pretty good,” 
the man across the table said. “I’ll just boost 
that pot fifty bucks.” 

Dick Ganley grinned. 

“Old stuff!” he snorted. 

“What’s that?” 

“Old stuff!” Dick Ganley repeated. “No 
kick cornin’ from me. When I sit in a game 
with strangers, I take whatever medicine they 
dish out.” 


30 


THE RANGERS' CODE 


“You intimatin' anything?" 

“ Not a thing!'' Ganley said. ‘‘ But I ’ve got 
somethin’ of a good hand myself. I've got a 
peach of a hand right here on the table before 
me. But I reckon you've got it beat." 

“Cold feet, huh?" the other sneered. 

“No, sir. I'm just exhibitin’ wisdom," 
Ganley said. “What’s the use of me makin’ a 
bet when I know that I’m licked. I'm throwin’ 
an ace full into the discard. Here it is!" 

Ganley turned over his cards and spread 
them out, then laughed again, then tossed the 
cards to the center of the table. 

“And I'm bettin’ on the side," he said, “that 
you’ve got a small set of fours! I'm just 
bettin you fifty bucks on the side. You dealt. 
You ought to know." 

“What do you mean by that?" the other 
snarled. 

“I’m just bettin’ that you’ve got my ace full 
beat, and that your hand is a set of fours. 
Want to bet?" 

“Nope! That's what I’ve got—a set of 
fours." 

“Uh-huh!" Ganley said. “I don’t know 
you, sir, and I don’t know these other gents, 


TWO ENCOUNTERS 


31 


or whether they’re friends of yours. I’m not 
cornin’ right out and sayin’ anything, you un¬ 
derstand, about the way you deal cards. But I 
will say this—you insulted my intelligence, 
dang it! And let me just whisper these words 
in your ear—you’re goin’ to get up from this 
table right now, and you ain’t goin’ ever to 
play poker again when I’m around!” 

Dick Ganley’s eyes suddenly narrowed, and 
the smile was gone from his face. He was 
leaning slightly back from the table, as he 
spoke. 

“What’s that?” the other snarled. 

“You heard me! Don’t ever play poker 
again with anybody when I’m around! I 
don’t like the way you deal the cards!” 

There was an instant of silence, during 
which the others at the table quickly moved 
away, and a hush fell over the big room. Then 
the man across the table gave a bellow of rage, 
and his hand darted downward. And it re¬ 
mained there. For Dick Ganley, without mov¬ 
ing in his chair, had whipped out his old 
six-gun from its holster, and now its muzzle 
was trained against the breast of the man 
across the table. 


32 


THE RANGERS* CODE 

44 You’re a lot smoother handlin’ cards than 
you are handlin’ a gun,” Dick Ganley drawled. 

4 4 Get caught and then want to shoot it out, 
huh ? Why, you yellow pup, if I was a citizen 
of this here town I’d run you out of it! Put 
your hands up on the table.” 

Again there was an instant of hesitation. 
But when the hands of the man across the table 
came up, they were empty. He snarled again, 
as he placed the palms on the table. 

4 4 1 ’ll get you for this! ” he hissed. 4 4 1 don’t 
know who you are-” 

44 The name’s Ganley, and I’m from Texas, 
recent.” 

4 4 1 won’t forget this! ’ ’ The rage of the other 
was terrible to see. His eyes were flashing; 
he was frothing at the mouth; he seemed to be 
trembling. 

44 You’d better not forget it,” Ganley told 
him. 44 Remember what I said—don’t ever 
play poker with anybody when I’m around. 
Poker is supposed to be a game of chance, and 
I reckon we’ll keep her pure and unpolluted. 
You stand up and keep your hands above your 
head! Pronto!” 

There was a moment of grim defiance that 



TWO ENCOUNTERS 


33 


was not prolonged, and then the man across 
the table stood up. Dick Ganley got up also, 
watching the other carefully. He stepped 
around the table and took the other man’s 
weapon out of its holster, deftly “broke” it 
and scattered the cartridges on the floor. Then 
he returned the weapon to its owner and 
bowed mockingly. 

“The door is to your left and about twenty 
feet away,” Ganley said. “And remember— 
no poker after this when I am around!” 

“I’ll-” 

“I know—you’ll remember this! You told 
me that before. Get goin’!” 

Eor a moment their eyes clashed, and then 
the other man turned and went to the door and 
through it into the street. The others in the 
big room suddenly drew in deep breaths, and 
the tension was broken. The noise and clatter 
commenced again. Dick Ganley, as though 
nothing unusual had happened, cashed in his 
remaining chips and started toward the bar. 

A hand fell upon his shoulder, and he 
whirled around quickly to find Sheriff Tom 
Thomas facing him. 

“Sheriff, you make a man nervous touchin’ 


34 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

him from behind that way,” Ganley grunted. 

The sheriff grinned, and then his face grew 
sober. He motioned toward the front end of 
the bar, and Ganley led the way to the place 
he had indicated, where they could speak 
without being overheard. 

“I happened to see that little play of yours, 
Ganley,” the sheriff said in low tones. “You’ve 
got nerve! I ’ll say that much for you. If you 
still want that job that we were talking about, 
I reckon you can have it.” 


CHAPTER III 


A PEKILOTJS DANCE 

A SMILE flashed across Dick Ganley’s 
face, as he stepped a bit nearer to the 
sheriff. Other men in the room were 
watching them, but they did not approach too 
near. They did not know but what the official 
was questioning this stranger, and there was a 
possibility of gun play. 

‘ 4 Thanks, sheriff!” Dick Ganley said. “I 
sure do want that job. I’ll come in and see 
you about it the very first thing in the morn- 
in’—that is, the first thing after breakfast. I 
never like to miss a meal.” 

“But it is only fair to tell you something 
that perhaps you do not know,” Sheriff 
Thomas said. “The man you just made back 
down and quit that poker game is Bob Draige, 
one of the bad men of Cactusville.” 

“My good gosh!” Ganley gasped. “Why, 
he didn’t seem to be so bad!” 


36 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 

“But he is. You had him at a little disad¬ 
vantage here, you know. And if you go to 
Caetusville now, either as my deputy or in the 
capacity of an ordinary citizen, you’ll be run¬ 
ning into grave trouble.” 

“Grave trouble, hey?” 

“I didn’t mean to make a pun,” the sheriff 
said. “I’m serious, Ganley. Bob Draige will 
never forget this—and he’ll never forgive it, 
either. And he is the kind of man that shoots 
from the dark.” 

“Shucks!” Dick Ganley replied. “You 
seem to worry an awful lot, sheriff, about other 
folks and their troubles. You must be dry 
nurse to the whole blamed county. It’s right 
down kind of you, of course, but it must be 
mighty wearin’ on the nerves. Don’t you 
worry any about me, and I’ll be in to see you 
in the mornin’. I sure do want that job.” 

“A great deal will depend on how you start 
in,” the sheriff said. “You don’t want to make 
the mistake of underestimating that gang. 
You want to keep your eyes and ears open all 
the time.” 

“I reckon that they’ll be open, sheriff.” 


A PERILOUS DANCE 37 

“I can keep your appointment quiet until 
you look over the ground, if you say so.’ 1 

Dick Ganley stepped closer and lowered his 
voice again. “Don’t do it, sheriff,” he said. 
“Let’s speak right out in meetin’. I want ’em 
to know that I’m your deputy, right from the 
start. I don’t want ’em to think that I’m 
afraid of anything.” 

6 ‘ Whatever you say, Ganley. I’m going to 
give you free rein in this.” 

“I’m right down glad that I had that little 
clash with Bob Draige, ’ ’ Ganley continued. ‘ ‘ I 
made him back down. And every time you 
can make a man hack down you’re convincin’ 
him that you’re the better man. He may get 
mad and try to do somethin’ about it, but he’ll 
worry some, too.” 

“There is good sense in that,” the sheriff 
said. 

“And now that you’ve promised me that 
deputy’s job, sheriff, I’m goin’ to tell you 
somethin ’. It’s no more than right. I’m look- 
in ’ for a man.” 

“Somebody who escaped from you when 
you were in the rangers?” the sheriff asked. 

“No, sir! Nobody ever escaped from me. 


38 


THE RANGEBS’ CODE 


I’m lookin’ for a man on my own hook. Don’t 
even know who he is. But if you hadn’t given 
me the deputy’s job I’d have gone to Cactus- 
ville anyway. I’ve got somethin’ to do—find a 
man! If I find him, as a deputy sheriff maybe 
I can put him into jail. If I found him as a 
private citizen, the chances are that I’d shoot 
him and then turn fugitive, myself.” 

“What’s this?” the sheriff demanded. 

“About six months ago, sheriff, there was a 
man murdered in Cactusville, a man named 
Jack Matton.” 

“I remember the case,” the sheriff replied. 
“The report said that he was drunk and quar¬ 
relsome. He got mixed up in several rows, and 
one morning they found him out on the side 
of the hill, dead. He had been shot.” 

“Yeh! Drunk and quarrelsome!” Dick 
G-anley sniffed. “Sheriff, Jack Matton was 
my pal, my buddy. Understand? We were 
in South America together. And down there 
other men called him a freak because he never 
took a drink in his life. And he never quar¬ 
reled unless somebody else started it, and he 
couldn’t help himself. Drunk and quarrel- 


A PERILOUS DANCE 39 

some! And he had about a thousand dollars 
on him when he was killed.” 

“He did?” the sheriff asked. 

“He did!” Dick Ganley replied. “He had 
written to me a couple of days before. He was 
thinkin’ of buyin’ an interest in a ranch, and 
he wanted me to join him and go in with him 
on the deal. The next thing I heard, he had 
been killed. He was my pal, sheriff. I came 
here to find the man who killed him. That’s 
why I brought that letter to you.” 

“So it is a personal affair?” 

“In a way, sheriff. But I’ll remember that 
I’m a sworn deputy. One of that gang killed 
Jack and robbed him, just as sure as you’re 
born! And so you can depend on me to bust 
up that gang or die tryin’! And I’ll bust it all 
legal, too. Maybe I’ll have to shoot a few of 
’em, but I aim to put some of ’em in jail and 
see ’em stretch rope! I’m right down serious, 
sheriff, but you needn’t be afraid to pin a star 
on me. I’ll do everything legal.” 

“I believe that you will,” Sheriff Tom 
Thomas said. “But you want to be careful, 
Ganley. I hope that you get your man! ’ ’ 

“Thanks! I’ll get him, unless they get me 


40 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

first!” Ganley declared. “I’ll get the whole 
gang! I’ll get this unknown King of Cactus- 
vfile for you, sir! I’ll fetch him to the county 
jail, and then you and the court can do the 
rest.” 

Sheriff Thomas reached out and touched 
Ganley on the shoulder. It was his only show 
of emotion, and Ganley betrayed none at all, 
save a little moisture in the eyes. Sheriff 
Thomas felt a sudden elation. He was to have 
a regular he man for his Cactusville deputy, 
and, more than that, a deputy with a serious 
personal purpose. Perhaps the Cactusville 
gang would be cleaned out at last. 

“See you in the morning,” the sheriff said. 
Then he left Dick Ganley and walked out upon 
the street, and Ganley went a few feet along 
the bar and ordered a bottle of sarsaparilla. 

“You can have the real stuff, stranger, if 
you want it,” the bartender whispered. 

“Thanks, but I don’t want any of it just 
now,” Ganley replied. But he realized that 
this was the first kind overture on the part of 
the populace of Goldland, unless he considered 
the restaurant waitress, that the first estima¬ 
tion of him had been entirely in his favor. 


A PERILOUS DANCE 


41 


The bartender served the sarsaparilla. 44 You 
sure handled Bob Draige, mister/’ he said, in 
open admiration. 

“Shucks! That wasn’t anything,” Ganley 
replied. 

“No? I’ve been around here a few years, 
and I never saw another man try it.” 

“He’s nothing much to be scared of,” Gan- 
ley said. “He ain’t as bad as he’s painted, I 
reckon. Lots of men live on their reputations 
that a way.” 

The bartender grinned and pushed Ganley’s 
money back across the bar. “It’s on the 
house, ’ ’ he explained. 4 4 Your money’s no good. 
I’ve always been a little suspicious of Bob 
Draige. His luck at poker is too blamed con¬ 
sistent.” 

4 4 Uh-huh! ’ ’ Ganley grunted. 4 4 But he’s raw 
at that. He ain’t half as clever as some men 
I’ve seen.” 

The bartender grinned again and ignored 
his other customers for the time being. 4 4 You 
goin’ to stay in town?” he wanted to know. 
4 4 No offense, mister. But we like to have men 
like you locate around here.” 

“I’m to be made a deputy sheriff to-morrow, 


42 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


so I reckon I ’ll be around, ’ ’ Ganley said. “ I’m 
goin’ to be assigned to Cactusville, though.” 

6 6 Cactusville! ’ ’ the bartender gasped. ‘ ‘ Man, 
you’d better change your mind! Bob Draige 
and his friends run Cactusville. They’ll eat 
you alive after what you did to-night.” 

“Maybe I’d be tough eatin’,” Ganley re¬ 
plied. “And maybe they won’t always run 
Cactusville. Say, where’s this dance that’s 
bein’ held to-night?” 

“A block down the street on the other side,” 
the bartender explained. “You goin’?” 

“I aim to.” 

“Bob Draige is sure to be there, mister. 

“Well, my good gosh, ain’t the hall big 
enough for two?” Ganley demanded. 

“Maybe so and maybe not. It depends on 
which two,” the bartender told him. “You’d 
better keep your eyes peeled. I wouldn’t put 
much of anything past Bob Draige.” 

Dick Ganley grinned and turned away from 
the bar. He made his way slowly through the 
admiring throng, parted the swinging doors 
in front, and went out upon the street. A 
quick glance to right and left showed him that 


A PERILOUS DANCE 43 

Bob Draige was not in the immediate vicinity, 
as be bad half expected to find bim. 

Dick Ganley bad been no fool talking openly 
and a bit bombastically, as be had talked to the 
bartender. It was all a part of bis game. 
Experience bad taught bim that some men can 
be bandied only in a certain way. He guessed 
that the Cactusville gang bad been accustomed 
to dealing with men who openly showed fear 
of them. Sheriff Thomas’ deputies bad gone 
to that town half convinced that they would 
not succeed in their undertaking. They bad 
been ‘Ticked before they bad started.” 

And Dick Ganley wanted to turn the tables. 
He wanted the men of Cactusville to think that 
be was utterly unafraid of them, that be did 
not think they were at all ferocious. If they 
believed him to be a boasting fool, so much 
the better. They might grow careless if they 
thought be was not formidable. 

He wanted to give Bob Draige the impres¬ 
sion, for instance, that be did not fear bim at 
all, that be considered bim no worse than the 
ordinary run of men, and not worthy of being 
feared. Draige probably would report to the 
others that the new deputy was a man different 


44 THE BANGEKS’ CODE 

from those Sheriff Thomas had sent before. 
That would bring out the best the enemy had 
to offer; bring things to a crisis quickly. And 
it might serve to aid Ganley in determining the 
identity of the King of Cactusville. 

So he walked down the street toward the hall 
where the dance was being held, walked slowly 
and lazily, but alert for all that. He did not 
want to make use of a woman, but in this case 
he decided that it was the best thing to do. He 
would dance with Myrtle Baines, he decided, 
and see what Bob Draige did about it. He 
would do it in a casual way, as though Draige 
was no more to be feared than any other man 
in the hall. If he had analyzed Draige cor¬ 
rectly, such treatment of him would be the 
best way to get under the man’s skin. 

It was still early, but men and women were 
hurrying into the hall. It was a two-story 
frame building, with stores beneath and the 
hall above. Dick Ganley mounted the steps 
slowly and purchased a ticket at the door. 

“You’ll have to check your gun, mister,”- 
the doorkeeper told him. 

Ganley grinned and stepped to one side, 
where he checked his gun and belt. Then he 


A PERILOUS DANCE 45 

hitched up his trousers, straightened his neck¬ 
erchief, and entered the hall. 

On a platform at one end a two-man orches¬ 
tra was playing. A dozen couples were in the 
mazes of a waltz. There was a scattering of 
women around the sides of the hall, and a 
little group of men stood in one corner. Dick 
Ganley walked slowly the length of the hall 
and approached the group of men. Some of 
them whispered, as he passed, and he guessed 
that already the story of his clash with Bob 
Draige had been told. He got a drink of water 
from the barrel in the corner, and over the rim 
of the dipper, as he drank, he glanced at the 
dancers. Draige was there already, dancing 
with the blonde waitress, Myrtle Baines. 

The dance came to an end, and the dancers 
returned to their chairs. Ganley, putting the 
dipper back, saw from the corner of his eye 
that Bob Draige had observed him. A look 
of rage came into Draige *s face for an instant, 
and then he left Myrtle Baines and hurried 
toward the outer door. He disappeared after a 
word with the doorkeeper. 

Dick Ganley grinned. Once more he walked 
along the side of the hall. He reached Myrtle 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


46 

Baines just as the two-man orchestra started 
playing another dance. 

“So you came!” she said. 

“Sure!” Ganley replied. “Think that I’d 
stay away after you’d promised me a dance?” 

“I—I’m afraid!” she gasped. 

“Nothin’ to be afraid of, as far as I know,’ 1 
Ganley said. 

“It would be bad enough ordinarily, but 
now-” 

“What do you mean by ‘but now?’ ” he 
asked, as she seemed to hesitate. 

“Why, you had some trouble with Bob 
Draige up the street, didn’t you?” 

She paused again. 

“I caught him cheatin’ at cards and told 
him that I didn’t ever want him to play poker 
again while I was around,” Ganley said. “I 
wouldn’t go so far as to call that trouble.” 

“No telling what he’ll do!” 

“I’m not worryin’ much about that, Miss 
Baines, ’ ’ Ganley said. £ ‘ Are you goin ’ to dance 
with me? I’ve heard a lot worse dance music 
than they’re playin’ now.” 

She glanced up at him quickly. Bob Draige 
was still outside the hall. Myrtle Baines ad- 


A PERILOUS DANCE 


47 


mired cool courage when she saw it. She 
believed that she was seeing it now, and she 
was not without courage herself. 

“Sure!” she said, with sudden decision. 
“I’ll be pleased to dance with you.” 

It was an old-fashioned two-step that they 
danced, and the floor was comfortably filled 
with couples. Dick Ganley was a good dancer. 
With grace and skill he led his partner across 
the floor, and they were instantly noticed by 
the others in the hall. And Myrtle Baines, 
who was also a good dancer and seldom had 
the pleasure of dancing with a man who could 
dance well, forgot Bob Draige for the moment 
and gave herself up to enjoyment. 

The evening was just starting, and the 
orchestra was willing. So there was an encore 
as long as the original dance, and, when it 
came to an end, Dick Ganley took Myrtle 
Baines back to her chair and sat down beside 
her. 

“You’re a right good dancer,” he said. 
“You goin’ to let me have another?” 

“I—I am afraid that there’ll be trouble,” 
she said. 


48 


THE HANGERS’ CODE 


“Don’t you reckon that I could take care of 
you?” Dick Ganley asked. 

“I’m not afraid for myself,” she replied. 
“Bob Draige would never offer me harm. I ’ve 
got lots of friends in this town, and he knows 
it. They’d handle him rough if he started any¬ 
thing with me. But you’re a stranger, and 
that might make a difference. And a man must 
play his own game.” 

“ Yeh ? My good gosh! ’ ’ Ganley exclaimed. 
“Don’t you call me a stranger. I’m gettin’ 
to he a regular citizen. I’m goin’ to be sworn 
in to-morrow mornin’ as a sheriff’s deputy.” 

“You are?” she gasped. She looked at him 
suddenly wild-eyed. 

“Sure!” Ganley said. “I just settled it 
with the sheriff. I’m goin’ to be sent to Cac- 
tusville.” 

She gasped at this last piece of information, 
and her eyes continued to bulge. 

“Why, you are as good as dead!” she whis¬ 
pered. ‘ 4 After the way you treated Bob Draige 
to-night and after dancin ’ with me. You must 
not dance with me again. Maybe, if you don’t, 
he won’t learn that you danced this once.” 

“My good gosh! You seem to think that I 


A PERILOUS DANCE 


49 


should shake and shiver whenever this Bob 
Draige is mentioned,” Dick Ganley told her, 
grinning a bit. 

“You do not understand what a mean, cruel 
man Bob Draige can be,” she said. “Oh, 
you must not go to Cactusvillel Nobody but 
friends of the gang can get along there. And 
it is death to be a deputy! The sheriff 
shouldn’t send you. Do you know what they 
do to deputies over there?” 

“I’ve heard tell what they did to a few of 
’em, but they haven’t dealt with me yet,” Dick 
Ganley replied. i ‘ The sheriff told me all about 
it. I’m goin’ there of my own free will, Miss 
Baines. Maybe, I’ll get the worst of it, but 
I’m game to find out. And, say, the music is 
startin’ again.” 

“I—I’m afraid!” 

“Oh, of course, if you’re afraid-” he 

began. 

Her eyes flashed at his implication of cow¬ 
ardice. She got up immediately. 

“All right!” she said. “Have it your own 
way. I’m not afraid, if you’re bound and 
determined to dance with me again. But you 
can never say that I didn’t warn you.” 



50 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


Ganley laughed lightly, as he put an arm 
around her and started dancing again. This 
dance, too, was an old-fashioned two-step, and 
they danced rapidly, joyously. Once more 
Myrtle Baines forgot for the moment Bob 
Draige and the menace he presented. 

The orchestra started the encore the dancers 
demanded, and some of the couples left the 
floor. Half the people in the hall were now 
watching Myrtle Baines and the newcomer to 
Goldland. And finally the orchestra ended the 
number with as much dramatic crash as a two- 
man orchestra can, and Dick Ganley guided 
his partner toward her chair once more. 

She sat down, and Ganley went to get her a 
glass of water. He stood over her, as she 
drank, laughing and chatting with her. Others 
in the hall were watching them in fear. There 
was a sudden commotion near the door, but 
Ganley gave it no attention. 

“ You sure can dance, Miss Baines,” Ganley 
said. 

“You’re something of a dancer yourself,” 
she replied, laughing up at him. 

“I hope that you’ll give me another dance 
before the night is over,” he said. 


A PERILOUS DANCE 


51 


Once more she looked up to answer him, and 
the face of Myrtle Baines went suddenly white, 
her laugh died in her throat, she clutched at 
her breast, as though in terror, and her eyes 
bulged with quick fear. Dick Ganley turned 
his head slowly. Bob Draige had come back 
into the dance hall and now was standing not 
more than three feet from them, his face a 
picture of rage, his fists clenched, his eyes blaz¬ 
ing, and his chest heaving. 

“You!” he screeched, wildly, lurching for¬ 
ward, his face within a foot of Dick Ganley’s. 
“ What do you mean by dancin’ with my girl ?” 


i 


CHAPTER IVi 


FISTIC COMBAT 

D URING his absence from the ball, Bob 
Draige bad broken tbe prohibition law 
to a certain extent. Tbe crude liquor 
wbicb be had consumed bad inflamed him. He 
bad taken just enough of it to make him mean 
and dangerous, but not enough to render him 
incapable of caring for himself in any sort of 
combat, and Dick Ganley noted this fact at 
once. 

Instantly there was quiet in tbe ball. Bob 
Draige bad shouted bis words, and all had 
heard. Tbe dancers sensed tbe situation at 
once. The women began hurrying toward a 
corner of tbe room, away from tbe scene. The 
men gradually and deliberately drew nearer 
to watch and listen. 

“What do you mean by dancin’ with 
my girl?” Draige repeated, lurching still 
nearer. 


52 


FISTIC COMBAT 53 

Dick Ganley straightened his great length 
slowly. He seemed to uncoil and grow rigid, 
except that his arms were hanging loosely at 
his sides. His lips formed into a thin straight 
line, and his eyes suddenly gleamed danger¬ 
ously. But when he spoke it was in his usual 
smooth drawl and with no hint of enmity in the 
tone of his voice. 

“Are you speakin’ to me?” Ganley wanted 
to know. 

“Yes, I’m talkin’ to you!” Draige sneered. 

Bob Draige knew that the entire town was 
laughing at him because of the manner in 
which Dick Ganley had bested him in the gam¬ 
bling room. He was seething with rage. He 
wanted to vindicate himself before the citizens 
of Goldland, and he felt that this was his 
opportunity. 

“When you talk to me,” Dick Ganley told 
him calmly, “you don’t want to use a tone like 
that. It ain’t noways healthy. I don’t aim to 
be bellered at.” 

“No?” Draige snarled. 

“No!” Ganley replied firmly. “What kind 
of a feller are you, anyway, to come into a 
public place like this, where there are ladies 


54 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 

present, and shriek around like a crazy In¬ 
dian? You must have been drinkin’ some 
powerful stuff. ” 

“I asked you a question,” Draige said. He 
was balancing himself on the balls of his feet, 
holding his fists ready. 

“Oh, yeh! I heard it. I danced with Miss 
Baines a couple of times, if that’s what you 
want to know, and I’m liable to dance with 
her again if she’s willin’. Why not ? I asked 
her, and she was kind enough to dance with 
me, and she’s a mighty fine dancer. What 
have you got to say about it?” 

“Why, you—you——” 

“Is that all you’ve got to say?” Ganley in¬ 
terrupted. “Then you’d better run away, I 
reckon and let the dance go on. You’re scarin’ 
some of the women in the room, and that ain’t 
right. But you ain’t scarin’ any of the men, 
as far as I can see. I reckon that you’d better 
run along.” 

Dick Ganley half turned away from him, but 
Draige’s right hand shot out, grasped Ganley’s 
arm, and whirled him around again. Ganley’s 
eyes narrowed a trifle more. 

‘ ‘ Take your dirty paw off me! ” Ganley com- 


FISTIC COMBAT 


55 


manded. “Lookin’ for trouble, are you?” 

“Suppose that I am,” Draige Sneered. 
“Do you reckon that I’d be able to find it 
here?” 

“Oh, I’m always ready to accommodate a 
man,” Ganley replied. “You’re interferin’ 
with my evenin’s fun, but I reckon that I 
can take a few minutes off to attend to you.” 

“A few minutes, huh?” 

“You heard me!” said Ganley. “But let’s 
get out of the hall. There’s no sense in spoilin’ 
the evenin’ for the ladies.” He turned back 
to the girl. 6 6 I reckon that I ’ll have to ask you 
to excuse me for a few minutes, Miss Baines,” 
he drawled, smiling. “I’ve got somethin’ here 
that needs a little attention. I’ll be hopin’ 
that you’ll save another dance for me, though.” 

“You won’t be able to dance!” Draige 
snarled. 

Dick Ganley turned to face him again and 
motioned toward the door. Half the men in 
the hall already were hurrying toward it. This 
affair promised to be interesting. One of the 
bullies of Cactusville was to clash in combat 
with a man who was a stranger in Goldland. 
After what had happened in the gambling 


56 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


house and this scene in the dance hall, the 
fight should prove diverting, 

Draige crowded through the doorway, with 
Dick Ganley at his heels. They hurried down 
the steps and into the street and around to one 
side of the building, where there was an open 
space, and where a sufficient amount of light 
came from the nearest street lamp and from 
the windows of the hall above. 

“I suppose that you mean a regular fist 
fight,” Ganley said. “I’m a stranger around 
here and ain’t acquainted with the rules.” 

“Everything goes but knives and guns,” 
Draige snarled. “I won’t need a knife or a 
gun.” 

“Sure that you ain’t got either on you?” 
Ganley asked. 

Bob Draige made no reply, but rushed. He 
had slipped out of his coat and hurled him¬ 
self forward with a single treacherous move¬ 
ment. It was an old trick of Draige, who did 
not cling particularly to the principles of fair 
play. But the trick failed this time. Dick 
Ganley darted quickly to one side and allowed 
Draige to charge past him, and with the same 
movement he slipped out of his own coat. 


FISTIC COMBAT 


57 


“Right down eager, ain’t you?” Ganley 
said. “Can’t wait till a man gets ready, 
hull?” 

Draige made no reply. Once more he hurled 
himself forward, two hundred pounds of bone 
and muscle charged with hatred and rage. 
Dick Ganley weighed almost as much as 
Draige, and he was taller and had a longer 
reach. 

He did not step aside or retreat. He calmly 
awaited Draige’s second charge, and Draige 
found that he had charged against a stone wall 
from which flying fists seemed to hurl them¬ 
selves at him. Four times Ganley ripped a 
fist home, and then he stepped aside to let 
Draige dash past. 

“Say when you’ve got enough,” Ganley told 
him. “This ain’t in any way a fair scrap. You 
ain’t a match for me at all, Draige. You’re 
licked before you start!” 

“Yeh?” Draige sneered. 

Again he hurled himself forward, seeing 
red, reckless and half off guard, willing and 
ready to take punishment if he could give 
punishment in return. But he soon found 
that the latter was impossible. Dick Ganley 


58 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

was a boxer as well as a man with a wallop in 
either fist. He knocked aside Draige’s futile, 
sledgelike blows, and in turn sent home blows 
of his own that cut Draige’s face, rocked his 
head, and punished his body. And now Ganley 
began to punish Draige, to beat him down 
slowly. Draige was one of the Cactusville 
gang, a crook, and he had brought this fight 
upon himself. Hence Dick Ganley felt called 
upon to teach him a lesson. 

Draige began to give ground, but Ganley 
maneuvered so that he went against the wall of 
the building and could not escape. And there 
Ganley stood before him and punished him, 
hit his face, drove rights and lefts to the body, 
until Bob Draige was whimpering and trying 
to cover his head with his arms. 

“Got enough?” Ganley demanded. 

Draige made no reply. With his last remain¬ 
ing strength he lashed out a terrific blow. Gan¬ 
ley snapped his head sharply to one side and 
avoided it, as he sent a blow of his own to 
Draige’s face. Now he started in once more 
to cut his man down. He avoided delivering a 
blow that would have brought injury to Draige 
but he was reducing the bully, Bob Draige, to 


FISTIC COMBAT 59 

a whimpering, pleading wretch who must 
acknowledge his defeat. 

Presently Draige was leaning back against 
the wall, his arms wrapped around his head. 
Inch by inch he sank toward the ground. He 
was making no pretense at fighting now. He 
was rapidly growing weaker, felt his senses 
going. Ganley stopped and stepped back a 
couple of feet. 

“I can’t fight a yellow quitter,” he 
sneered. “Draige, you’d better let this be a 
lesson. Don’t think that you can bully every 
man you meet. What right have you got to 
say whether a man dances with a girl you ain’t 
married or engaged to? You’re a card-cheat¬ 
in’, yellow quitter, and you’d better remember 
it! Don’t try to beller around a he man again, 
Draige. You ’re a j oke! ’ * 

Draige collapsed to the ground, as Ganley 
finished speaking. Ganley turned his back 
and walked away. In the stream of light that 
came from the door of the hall he looked at his 
bruised knuckles, paying scant attention to the 
men who crowded around him, to those who 
already were hurrying up into the hall, carry¬ 
ing the news of the combat. The bully of Cac- 


60 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


tusville had been whipped and badly whipped, 
and the citizens of Goldland gloried in the fact. 
And Dick Ganley did not have a mark on him. 

Ganley crossed the street, entered one of 
the resorts, washed his knuckles and straight¬ 
ened his attire. He combed his hair with his 
fingers, drank a bottle of lemon pop, went back 
across the street, and ascended the stairs to 
the dance hall, smiling, as though nothing had 
happened. He entered the room between 
dances and went at once to Mrytle Baines. 

“May I have the next dance?” he asked. 

“I reckon,” she said, smiling up at him. 
“You—you fought him?” 

“Not to any great extent,” Ganley replied, 
grinning. “We just fussed around a little.” 

Myrtle Baines wondered a bit at that. She 
already had heard of the outcome of the fray 
and knew that some of Draige’s friends at that 
moment were working over him. Dick Ganley, 
it was evident, was not much given to boasting 
around women, though he might boast now and 
then to men. 

She expected that Dick Ganley would 
monopolize her, dance with her the remainder 
of the evening, and then accompany her back 


/ 


FISTIC COMBAT 


61 


to the restaurant building, where she had her 
room. She felt a glow of pride over the fact 
that men had fought about her. She believed 
that Ganley felt a proprietary interest in her 
now. She did not sense that Ganley had not 
fought a rival over a girl, but a man who had 
questioned his actions. 

So she was rather bewildered when, after 
two more dances, Dick Ganley thanked her 
and deliberately left the hall. Other men 
danced with her after a time, and one even 
accompanied her home, but she saw nothing 
more of Dick Ganley that night. Myrtle 
Baines felt that she did not quite understand 
it. She puzzled over it in her room, as she 
combed her blonde tresses. 

Leaving the dance hall, Ganley had gone to 
the little room just outside the door to surren¬ 
der his check and get his gun. The man on 
duty handed it over without comment. Ganley 
buckled on the belt, and then removed the gun 
from the holster and “broke’ ? it. The car¬ 
tridges were missing. 

“Now that is what I call right down pecu¬ 
liar, ’ ’ Dick Ganley said. 41 1 happen to be sure 


62 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


that this gun was loaded when I checked her. 
Somebody’s gone to the trouble of removin’ 
the loads. Know anything about it?” 

He snapped the last question at the man on 
duty in the check room. 

“I—I don’t know anything about it,” the 
other replied. “I think that I saw somebody 
fussin’ around the guns, but I didn’t pay much 
attention.” 

“It makes me right down mad to have any¬ 
body fuss around this old six-gun of mine,” 
Ganley told him, grinning again. “You don’t 
suppose that, after what’s happened this 
evenin’, I’d be fool enough to buckle on that 
gun without examinin’ it, do you? If there is 
some gent down on the street waitin for me, 
expectin’ to make me draw and then shoot me 
down, knowin’ that I can’t harm him in return, 
he’s due to get a great surprise.” 

Saying which, Dick Ganley reloaded the 
weapon, slipped it back into the holster, and 
adjusted the belt to his complete satisfaction. 
He stepped back to the doorway for a moment 
and glanced in at the dancers. During that 
moment the check-room man hurried swiftly 
and silently down the stairs. 


FISTIC COMBAT 63 

Dick Ganley grinned at this maneuver. Bob 
Draige, he felt sure, was being warned that 
Ganley’s six-gun had been loaded again and 
was ready for business. 


CHAPTER V 


HIGHWAY SIGNS 

ETTING a room at the hotel, Ganley 
slept well, but was up shortly after 



dawn. He attended to his horse and 
went to the restaurant for his breakfast. 
Myrtle Baines was not yet on duty. An ancient 
Chinaman, with an inscrutable face, waited on 
him, and Ganley was thoroughly satisfied with 
the meal. 

He spent the remainder of the day with 
Sheriff Tom Thomas. He was sworn in, intro¬ 
duced to the county commissioners, and given 
an abundance of free advice. Ganley allowed 
the advice to go in one ear and out the other, 
since it was all stale stuff. 

He saw Myrtle Baines again that evening 
at the restaurant, but there was little conversa¬ 
tion, since Myrtle happened to be unusually 
busy at that hour. And the next morning, 


HIGHWAY SIGNS 65 

after another early breakfast, Dick Ganley 
mounted his horse and rode out of Goldland, 
turning into the Cactusville trail. 

There seemed to be no one about. 

Late in the afternoon, after riding leisurely 
since early in the morning, he emerged from a 
tiny canon, went up a slope, and so reached 
the level floor of a mesa. Then he stopped his 
horse, swung to one side of the saddle, and 
rolled a cigarette. As he fumbled in his shirt 
pocket for a match, he glanced along the back 
trail. 

He was more than halfway from Goldland 
to Cactusville, he believed. After leaving the 
town behind he had encountered no living 
being save one sheep-herder who had come 
down from the hills and was walking toward 
the town. 

As far as he could see behind him there was 
nothing but burning waste land, with the dirty 
ribbon of trail running across it, and the heat 
waves dancing in endless regiments. The 
canon had been like an oven, and Ganley was 
glad that he had reached the mesa. 

Across the mesa, which was miles in extent, 
he would descend into another canon. Then 


66 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

he would climb again, until he passed over the 
ridge of hills that was the backbone of the 
county. Descending on the other side, he 
would come to the floor of the arid land, and 
so to Cactusville, where it nestled at the bottom 
of another range of hills. 

Ganley took a swallow from his canteen, 
lighted the cigarette, and touched the horse 
with the spurs. It was within an hour of sun¬ 
down when he reached the other side of the 
mesa. He stopped the horse again and looked 
ahead. The canon through which the trail ran 
was a deep one, with walls of rock on either 
side. There was some brush, though, and, if 
the sheriff had spoken the truth, a spring and 
a little stream. 

Ganley rode into the canon, alert and on 
guard. He had ascertained before leaving 
Goldland that Bob Draige had departed the 
morning after the dance. Ganley had also 
ascertained that Draige had learned that he 
had been appointed a deputy sheriff and 
assigned to Cactusville. 

So it was reasonable to assume that Bob 
Draige had hurried to Cactusville to see his 
pals and arrange a hot reception for the new 


HIGHWAY SIGNS 


67 


ft? Ti 

w ( V 

KJf 

deputy. Yet it was not outside the range of 
possibilities that Draige bad prepared an 
ambusb somewhere along the highway, intend¬ 
ing to settle the affair himself. So Ganley rode 
cautiously. 

He reached the spring after a time and con¬ 
tinued past it. He finally came to a stop beside 
the little stream, where he allowed his horse 
to drink. A little scouting in the neighbor¬ 
hood convinced him that there was no foe close 
at hand, and there was nothing to indicate 
that there was an ambush in the vicinity. 

It was growing dark in the canon. Ganley 
found a cleared space and arranged to camp 
there. He hobbled his horse and let the animal 
graze near the tiny stream, where there was a 
quantity of rank grass growing. He built a 
fire, made coffee, cooked flapjacks and bacon, 
and ate a meal. 

He knew that it would become cold during 
the night, yet he allowed the fire to die down 
and go out. He stowed his few belongings 
behind a clump of brush, took his blankets and 
went up the side of the hill a short distance, 
and there prepared for sleep. 

There was no unusual incident during the 


68 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


night, and at dawn Ganley got up, exercised a 
bit to warm himself, built another fire, and 
cooked his breakfast. There was neither haste 
nor hesitation in his manner. He might have 
been an ordinary man in an ordinary situation, 
as far as his actions were concerned. 

An hour later he was riding slowly through 
the canon. The trail wound up the side of the 
hill, and then he began the ascent to the sum¬ 
mit of the ridge. Now he was where he could 
see far ahead and far behind. There was no 
chance of a treacherous shot, save here and 
there, where there was a pile of rocks that 
might hide a man. 

Ganley did not expect to be attacked on the 
open trail. He was firm in his belief that his 
foes would make no move against him outside 
of Cactusville. Inside the town they would 
have ample opportunity to gather witnesses 
who would swear to any story. A man killed 
out in the open would call for an investigation. 

On the summit of the ridge, Ganley stopped 
his horse again and looked ahead. The other 
side of the ridge was barren. The trail wound 
down into the sun-baked valley and across it, 
twisting this way and that like a great serpent. 


HIGHWAY SIGNS 


69 


In the far distance he could see what appeared 
to be a town. It was scarcely visible even in 
that clear air, and he knew that it was miles 
away. It was Cactusville. 

He spoke to his horse and began the descent 
of the slope. He sang, as he rode, a wild song 
of the South American pampas, half in English 
and half in Spanish. The horse he rode cov¬ 
ered the miles at an easy pace. Ganley would 
reach the town about the middle of the after¬ 
noon if he continued at the present rate of 
speed. He reached the floor of the valley and 
continued along the trail. It was a wild waste 
of country through which he was passing. 
Sand and dust and rocks abounded. Lizards 
scampered over the hot stones. Here and there 
in the distance a grotesque cactus reared its 
bulk. 

Ganley did not seem to be bothered by the 
dust and the heat. He urged his mount on, 
drew his neckerchief up over his mouth, and 
pulled his hat down close to his eyes. He 
lurched to one side of the saddle, riding easily. 
He seemed to be half asleep. But he was not. 
He was cautious, alert. 

Life in out-of-the-way places and service 


70 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

in the Texas Rangers had taught Ganley to be 
on guard always. He knew that it is the unex¬ 
pected that is to be feared, rather than the 
expected. To be alert where another man 
would grow careless generally resulted in good 
fortune. 

But now he emerged from another tiny 
canon and could see the town plainly in the 
distance, not more than ten miles away. He 
looked at it with keen interest. It sprawled 
across one side of a hill, he could see. It was 
not a large town. A few wisps of smoke hang¬ 
ing in the air above it betrayed its location 
more than did its buildings. 

He had made some inquiries concerning 
Cactusville from Sheriff Tom Thomas and 
others. He knew it was a typical, old-style 
desert town. There was a single crooked street 
lined with buildings and tent houses, and 
there were other tent houses and shacks scat¬ 
tered around the side of the hill. Up in the 
hills there were some mines, and back in the 
canons there were a few ranches. Ganley was 
convinced that, if not interrupted, he could 
reach the town a couple of hours before sunset. 
He touched the spurs to his horse, and the 


HIGHWAY SIGNS 71 

animal increased its speed a trifle. Dick Gan¬ 
ley loped around a curve in the road and came 
to an abrupt stop. 

A large boulder rested beside the road. 
Pasted across it was a sheet of wrapping 
paper, such as storekeepers use. Painted on 
the sheet of paper was a sign: 

“Cactusville Five Miles. Everybody Wel¬ 
come Except a Deputy Sheriff. ’ ’ 

“Well, old timer, they’re open enough about 
it,” Ganley said to his horse. “Maybe we 
won’t he welcome, but we’re goin’ ahead just 
the same.” 

He chuckled as he rode along the trail. As 
far as he could see there was no human being 
in sight. Boulders were scattered along the 
road, and here and there was a clump of brush, 
but there was no place that would have served 
as a good ambush. And Dick Ganley did not 
fear an ambush now. Had they planned such 
a thing, it would have been farther from the 
town, he reasoned, back in the hills near the 
summit of the ridge. If there was going to be 
a clash, it would come inside the town of Cac- 
tusville, where the unknown king had his gang. 
And Ganley did not doubt that there would 


72 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


be a clash. On he rode, whistling softly to him¬ 
self, now and then slapping his horse on the 
neck. Ganley was the sort of man who makes 
a pal of a horse. 

When he came in time to another pile of 
rocks he found himself facing another sign. 
This one brought a huge grin to his features : 

“FOR SALE—Another Lot in Boothill 
Cemetery With Big Grave Already Prepared. 
Suitable for Deputy Sheriff.” 

‘ ‘ Huh! ’ ’ Ganley told the horse. ‘ 4 They sure 
do believe in advertisin’ their goods!” 

He started the horse again, began whistling 
once more, and from a pocket of his shirt he 
took the bright new deputy’s star that Sheriff 
Tom Thomas had given him. He deliberately 
pinned the star to his breast. 

“I aim to do a little advertisin’ myself, 
hoss,” he said. “I sure aim to let everybody 
know who I am. No sense in hidin’ your light 
under a bushel, huh?” 

On he traveled. He shifted his holster 
around where it belonged, and he extracted 
his six-gun and inspected it carefully, finding 
that it was ready for instant use. He wiped 


HIGHWAY SIGNS 73 

the perspiration from his face and hands and 
adjusted his hat again. 

Presently he came to another boulder and 
another sign: 

“ Deputy Sheriffs Wishing To Be Shot, Go 
To The Palacn, Where Gents Will Be Glad To 
Accommodate.’ ’ 

u There’s nothing like bein’ given good 
directions,” Ganley said to the horse. 6 ‘This 
here Palace, I reckon, is the particular hang¬ 
out of the gang, and maybe where this here 
king of Cactusville has his throne. Have to 
pay a visit to it, I reckon. Want to take in all 
the sights, sure.” 

He had an inclination to puncture the sign 
with a bullet, but thought better of it. Bob 
Draige certainly had been at work, he decided. 
The town of Cactusville, that is the violent 
portion of it, undoubtedly already was 
inflamed against him and waiting for his 
arrival. 

But Dick Ganley had faced situations before 
that were fully as bad as this. He had ridden 
into a Mexican village once, where all the 
inhabitants were hostile, to arrest a man whose 
friends had declared that he never would be 


74 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

taken, and he had brought out his man. It 
took more than signs to break a real man 
down, Ganley told himself. 

He rode through another jumble of rocks 
and found that he was quite near the town. 
He could see some men riding down into it 
from the distant hills. But between Ganley 
and the town there was no horseman, no human 
being that he could see. There was just one 
place where danger might lurk. It was a clus¬ 
ter of gigantic boulders, perhaps half an acre 
in extent, left there by some accident of ancient 
times. Those boulders, through which the 
trail ran, might hide half a score of men. 

Ganley prepared for combat if it came. He 
became more alert, more cautious. He sat 
erect in his saddle now, and he made sure that 
his gun was swinging just where he wanted it 
to swing. Into the field of boulders he rode, 
glancing continually to either side and ahead 
of him. But he did not hear the slightest 
sound. Not even a faint breeze stirred the dust 
and the sand. The lizards did not seem to be 
playing. It was a desolate spot, one of those 
peculiar spots found here and there in the 
West. He stopped the horse for a moment 


HIGHWAY SIGNS 75 

and listened. There was no hint of danger, 
nothing to cause him alarm. 

“I reckon well get our grief in the town, if 
we get it at all, hoss,” Ganley said. 

He urged the animal on again. And after a 
time he came across another sign. It was 
larger than the others and was spread across 
the faces of two rocks that leaned together. 

“Last Warning! If You Are a Law Pest 
Don’t Go To Cactusville!” 

“I reckon that I’m what they mean by law 
pest, hoss,” Ganley said, chuckling again. 
“I’mright down sorry that I can’t please these 
jaspers, but I sure don’t aim to turn around 
and ride back to Goldland. Hoss, somethin’' 
seems to tell me that our little sojourn in this 
here town of Cactusville is goin’ to he filled 
with excitement. If you want to go back, hoss, 
you turn right around and go. What’s that? 
You don’t? Good hoss! Let’s wander on, 
then.” 

They wandered on. But suddenly the horse 
snorted and threw up his ears, and Dick Gan¬ 
ley had his six-gun in his hand and was bend¬ 
ing forward instantly. 

There was a slight noise to the right side 


76 THE RANGERS* CODE 

of the trail. The head of another horse showed 
around one of the huge rocks. Then the entire 
horse came into view, a rider on his back. 

Ganley drew in his breath sharply and 
dropped his gun hand to his side quickly, as 
though ashamed. The rider was a woman. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE GIRL ON THE TRAIL 

F OR a moment the man and the girl re¬ 
garded each other without speaking. 
In that moment Dick Ganley observed 
her well. He judged that she was no more 
than twenty-two or twenty-three years old. 
She was of medium build, pretty in a way, and 
with a face in which some lines of character 
were molded. 

Her sudden appearance had rather startled 
Dick Ganley, but he knew instantly that his 
appearance had not startled her in the least, 
had been no surprise to her, that she had been 
watching his approach along the trail, had been 
waiting to meet him, and had deliberately con¬ 
fronted him. She was mounted on an ordinary 
cow pony and was dressed in ordinary cloth¬ 
ing, not in a riding habit. She wore no hat. 
Her dark hair was tumbling in a mass about 

77 


78 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 

her head. She sat erect in the saddle, but there 
was a look in her face that puzzled Ganley a 
bit. She gave the appearance of being dis¬ 
traught and at the same time trying not to 
show it. 

She looked him over swiftly, took in his 
appearance quickly, saw the gleaming star on 
his breast, and noted the gun that he held 
ready in his hand. 

“You are the new deputy sheriff*?” she said. 

It was not a question, but a statement. She 
looked straight at Ganley, as she spoke. 

“I reckon,” Ganley replied, smiling at her 
and returning his six-gun to its holster. “My 
name’s Ganley. I didn’t intend for to shoot 
at you, ma’am. But you appeared kind of 
sudden, and it made me nervous. I’m inclined 
to whip out a gun whenever I get nervous.” 

She forced her horse closer to his. “You 
must go back!” she said, her voice charged 
with dread and fear. 

“Go back?” 

“To Goldland!” she said. “Anywhere—so 
that you keep away from Cactusvile.” 

“But it happens, ma’am, that the sheriff has 
sent me here, ’ ’ Ganley replied. ‘ 4 1 reckon that 


THE GIRL ON THE TRAIL 79 

I’ve got a duty to perform. I’m assigned to 
this town.” 

“The sheriff shouldn’t have done it!” she 

cried. “He has sent other men-” She 

ceased speaking and seemed to shiver. She 
glanced toward the town, as though in fear, 
and then quickly back at him. “Please go 
back,” she implored. 

“Maybe you’d better explain,” Ganley said. 

“ Don’t you understand ?’ ’ she cried. 4 4 Don’t 
you know what they have done to other depu¬ 
ties the sheriff has sent here ? And you—you 
whipped Bob Draige in Goldland. Everybody 
in Cactusville knows it. You made him stop 
playing cards, too. They’ll kill you for that— 
and because you’re a deputy.” 

44 Who will?” Ganley asked. 

44 The—the gang,” she answered. 44 They 
run the town. Cactusville is no place for an 
honest man.” 

4 4 Seems to me the town must need a few 
honest men,” he replied. 44 And so you rode 
out here to warn me?” 

44 Yes; I don’t want to see another murder 
done. I know what they’ll do.” 


80 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 

“You got any particular interest in this 
gang?” Ganley asked, his eyes twinkling. 

“Oh, why do you sit there in your saddle 
and talk like that?” she cried. “Don’t you 
realize that your life is in danger? Can’t you 
see that I’m serious?” 

“I reckon that you are—yes, ma’am,” Gan¬ 
ley replied. ‘ ‘ But why should you-’ ’ 

“I’ve told you,” she interrupted. “I don’t 
want to see another murder done. I took a 
chance to come out here and warn you. If they 
find it out——” 

“Then you are right well acquainted with 
these Cactusville bad men?” Ganley wanted 
to know. 

“I—I know them, yes,” she faltered. 

“Suppose that you tell me all about ’em 
then.” 

She shuddered again, as though with fear. 
“You don’t know what you are asking,” she 
said. “Do you want to see me killed? I’ve 
risked a lot to ride out here to meet you and 
warn you. I thought that perhaps you didn’t 
know what you were facing.” 

“I reckon that’s been told to me several 
times,” said Ganley. “I’m sorry that you’ve 


THE GIRL ON THE TRAIL 81 

gone out of your way to meet up with me like 
this. I’m grateful, but I’ve sure got to go on 
into Cactusville, ma’am.” 

“Please go back!” she begged. 

“Are you afraid that I might put in jail 
some man you’re a lot interested in?” Ganley 
asked. “You don’t happen to be married to 
one of these here bad men, do you?” 

“I—I am not married*” 

“I reckon that I don’t quite understand all 
this, then,” he said. 

“I—I just wanted to warn you,” she told 
him. “You may be a good fighter and brave, 
but so were some of the other men the sheriff 
sent. Please go back to Goldland! I—I dare 
not stay here longer. Won’t you go back—if I 
ask it?” 

She looked at him appealingly. Ganley ap¬ 
praised her carefully. She seemed very much 
the right sort of girl. There was something 
about her that was attractive. Yet there were 
lines in her face that told of misery and heart¬ 
ache, too. Perhaps, Ganley thought, her father 
might be implicated, and she feared for him. 

“You haven’t told me your name,” he said. 

“It—it isn’t necessary.” 


82 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

“All right! But don’t you think you’d bet¬ 
ter tell me everything?” he asked as gently as 
he could. 

“There is nothing to tell. I only wanted to 
help you,” she replied. 

“But you never saw me before, and prob¬ 
ably you never heard of me—unless in the last 
day or so.” 

4 ‘ That makes no difference, ’ ’ she said. ‘ 6 1— 
I’ve done all that I can. If you won’t be 
warned, won’t go back-” 

Suddenly she sobbed and, before Ganley 
could speak again, wheeled her pony and gal¬ 
loped back around the rocks. Ganley urged 
his horse forward, but he was 'still alert. She 
might be a decoy, he knew, though he doubted 
it. 

But, once around the jumble of rocks, he 
saw that she was riding away as swiftly as she 
could. He stopped his horse and watched her. 
She rode for a distance of several hundred 
yards, to where there was another trail that 
ran toward the town, and she turned the pony 
into that and galloped forward madly. 

Ganley, pondering over her sudden appear¬ 
ance and her words, watched until she had 


THE GIRL ON THE TRAIL 83 

reached the outskirts of the town and had 
disappeared among the shacks and tent houses. 
Then he gave his own mount the spurs and 
continued toward Cactusville. 

“Just another little puzzle,” he told his 
horse. “She wasn’t such a bad-lookin’ girl at 
that. A mighty fine-lookin’ girl, if you’re 
askin’ me, hoss! There’s somethin’ botherin’ 
her, all right! Reckon that I’ll find out all 
about it later. I don’t mind fightin’ crooks, 
if they* re men, but I sure hope that there’s no 
women mixed up in this here mess.” 

Ganley began thinking again of what the 
sheriff had told him. He was to fear Snake 
Howger in particular, and he was to look out 
for Stub Stibes, one of Howger’s right-hand 
men. Bob Draige, of course, he had met al¬ 
ready. 

And behind these men was the unknown boss 
of Cactusville. How many others were in the 
gang nobody seemed to know. Ganley was not 
worrying about the others. It was the leader 
in whom he was interested, the leader and his 
particular lieutenants. He thought again of 
his friend, Jack Matton, who had been mur¬ 
dered and robbed in this town. The expres- 


84 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


sion of his face grew grim, and his eyes nar¬ 
rowed. All the bad men in CactusviUe, he told 
himself, could not stop him before he had come 
face to face with the man who had slain his 
friend! 


CHAPTER VII 


m THE ENEMIES COUNTRY 

N OW lie was so near the town that he 
could see men hurrying up and down 
the narrow, crooked street. He saw 
that the trail ran into one end of this street, 
and that it was like the main streets of similar 
towns. 

Ganley brought his horse to a walk and 
straightened himself in his saddle. Once more 
he made certain that his gun was ready for 
instant use. As he entered the street, he saw a 
livery stable, with a corral behind it, and to¬ 
ward this he rode. One man was standing be¬ 
fore the stable door. Down the street half a 
dozen men were watching his approach. 

Bringing his horse to a stop before the door 
of the stable, Ganley looked at the man who 
stood there. He was a middle-aged man, with 
the stamp of the desert country upon him, and 
he glanced up at Ganley, as though not par- 

85 


86 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


ticularly interested in him. With that gleam¬ 
ing star upon his breast, Dick Ganley knew 
that this attitude was unnatural. 

“I reckon that this is Cactusville,” Ganley 
said. 

‘ 4 It is,” replied the man at the stable door. 

“You run this stable?” 

“Yeh!” 

“Then you can put up my hoss,” Ganley 
told him. “And you take mighty good care of 
him, too. I know how a hoss should be treated, 
and I generally get mad if he ain’t treated 
right. When I get mad I’m a wolf!” 

“Yeh?” 

“Yes, sir!” said Ganley, starting to get out 
of his saddle. 

The man before the door of the stable waved 
a hand at him languidly. 

“You’ll save yourself some exercise in the 
hot sun if you don’t get down,” he said. 

“How come?” 

“I don’t want to take care of your horse.” 

“No?” 

“No! So you might as well ride on.” 

Dick Ganley seemed to be considering this 
for a moment. 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 87 

“What’s the idea?” he demanded. 

“Oh, I ain’t got any room,” said the man 
at the door. “This here stable is full up.” 

“Seems to me,” Ganley said, peering 
through the door, “that there’s quite a num¬ 
ber of empty stalls there.” 

“All reserved, stranger—all reserved spe¬ 
cial. Men from the mines or the ranches liable 
to drop in any minute.’ ? 

“Yeh? I reckon that we’ll just take a 
chance,” Ganley said. “So you don’t want to 
have anything to do with me, eh? That it? 
I reckon that the so-called and alleged bad 
hombres in this here town have told you not 
to take care of my hoss. That it? Maybe 
you’re one of these bad hombres yourself— 
eh?” 

“That kind of talk digs graves around this 
town,” said the man at the door. 

“Yeh? Let me tell you somethin’, feller. 
I’m an official of this here county, and I’m 
here on business. So I just naturally exert 
my rights and requisition one of them stalls, 
the best one that you’ve got! If it belongs to 
any other horse special, you can turn him into 
the corral. You understand me?” 


88 


THE BANGERS’ CODE 


“Came over here to Cactusville to run 
things, did you?” the other snarled. 

“Yes, sir!” Ganley replied. “I aim to make 
some of you gents step high and wide and 
pretty. If you’re scared because this gang 
ordered you not to take care of my hoss, you 
go ahead and do it, and I’ll protect you.” 

“A fine lot of protection you’ll be! You’ll 
be busy protectin’ yourself.” 

“Oh, I’ll be protection enough, I reckon,” 
Ganley said. “And if you’re inclined to be a 
bad hombre yourself, you’d better learn to 
walk straight. I ain’t wolfed around any since 
I smashed Bob Draige over in Goldland, and 
I’m itchin’ for action. Thats’ me!” 

Ganley got down from his saddle. 

“You hate yourself, don’t you?” the other 
sneered. 

“Not any! And I’m not braggin’, hombre !’ 9 
Ganley replied. “I’m just statin’ some facts. 
You take this here hoss, and I’ll watch to see 
how you handle him. You treat him right. 
If you mistreat me a little, maybe I’ll overlook 
it; but if you do that hoss a wrong, I’ll just 
naturally take you apart and manage to lose 
some of the parts. You hear me?” 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 89 


The man at the door still hesitated. 

“I—I don’t dare!” he gulped finally. 

“So that’s it? You’d better dare! Scared 
of the gang, are you? You’d better get some 
backbone, because you’re goin’ to need it. If 
you take care of that hoss, the gang may get 
you in time, and it may not; but if you don’t 
take care of him, I’ll get you right here and 
now! Lead him inside. Give me that blanket 
roll; then do your stuff! ’ ’ 

The stableman gulped again and did as he 
had been commanded, and Ganley stood to 
one side and grinned. He felt quite sure that 
his horse would be well treated. 

“Is this hotel next door the only one in 
town?” Ganley asked after a time. 

“Yeh,” said the stableman. 

Ganley picked up his blanket roll and went 
into the hotel. It was the only two-story build¬ 
ing in the town, and it needed paint badly. 

If Dick Ganley had expected to find a score 
or so of the citizens of Cactusville gathered in 
the hotel office, he was disappointed. One man 
was behind the battered counter, and that was 
all. He lifted his bald head and squinted his 
eyes, as Ganley approached. 


90 


THE HANGERS’ CODE 

“I’m the new deputy sheriff,” Ganley said. 
“I expect to he with you quite some time, and 
I want room and board.” 

“Sure thing,” the hotel keeper said. “Just 
sign the book.” 

Ganley registered. 

“I’m in the habit of gettin’ my pay a week 
in advance from you deputy sheriffs,” the man 
behind the counter declared. “That’s the 
safest way.” 

“Meanin’ that I might jump my bill?” 

“I ain’t insinuatin’ that,” was the reply. 
“But generally a deputy don’t last the week 
out. Either he’s planted on Boot Hill, or he’s 
chased away, and either way I lose.” 

i ‘ What’s your name ? ’ > 

“I’m Charlie Eennis. Everybody knows 
me.” 

‘ ‘ Uh-huh! ’ ’ Ganley grunted. ‘ ‘ Mr. Eennis, 
you’re goin’ to change your business policy a 
little right here and now. I don’t pay in ad¬ 
vance. The county pays my bills, and you 
can collect from it if necessary. But I don’t 
aim to be planted on Boot Hill or run out of 
town.” 

Eennis read the register. “I’ve got a right 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 91 

nice room, Mr. Ganley,” he said. “Two of the 
other deputies used it. One of ’em was shot 
while he was in the bed, but the sheets and 
mattress have been changed.” 

“Yeh?” Ganley asked. 

“Yeh! It’s No. 6, on the upper floor and 
at the front of the buildin’. You can have 
that room. And I sure wish that you’d ar¬ 
range not to get murdered in my place. It 
makes a mess for me to clean up.” 

“Anybody tell you to assign me to No. 6?” 
Ganley demanded suddenly. 

Charlie Rennis quaked and shivered at the 
look that came into the new deputy’s face. 

“Why—why-” he gasped. 

“I see that somebody did,” Ganley contin¬ 
ued. “You listen to me, Rennis. If you make 
just one bad move where I’m concerned, 
there’ll be a new hotel keeper in Cactusville. 
You give me a nice, clean room, with one door 
and one window—a nice, safe room. Under¬ 
stand? If I’m shot it won’t be while in bed 
and asleep.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“And now tell me—where is the Palace?” 


92 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

“My good gosh! You ain’t goin’ to the 
Palace, are you?” Charlie Rennis asked. 

“I certainly am,” Ganley replied. “I read 
quite a few signs scattered along the trail, 
and one of them seemed to intimate that I’d 
better not go near the Palace. And so nat¬ 
urally I aim to visit it.” 

“It’s a big saloon and gamblin’ house, and 
Crentz runs it,” the hotel man said. 

“Who is Crentz?” 

“He’s an old-timer in Cactusville. He was 
here long before I came.” 

“Does Snake Howger hang out at the Pal¬ 
ace?” 

Charlie Rennis betrayed sudden fear. 

“Don’t you go to shoutin’ around here like 
that, Mr. Ganley,” he begged. 

“Are you one of the Cactusville bad men?” 

“No, sir! I—I just aim to make me a livin’ 
—if I can,” Rennis replied quickly. “I don’t 
want any trouble with anybody. The Palace 
is across the street and about a hundred yards 
down. You can’t miss it. If there’s any par¬ 
ticular noise in town it’ll be in the Palace. 
But you’d better not go there, Mr. Ganley. 
It ain’t a healthy place for deputies.” 


IN THE ENEMY’S COUNTRY 93 


Dick Ganley grinned at the hotel man again, 
whirled around, and went through the door 
and into the street. Charlie Rennis limped to 
the door and watched him. 

“By cracky! He sure is goin’ to the Pal¬ 
ace!” the hotel man gulped. “That’s a right- 
down shame! No use in settin’ him a place 
for supper, I reckon.” 


CHAPTER VIII 


WHERE ROGUES GATHER 

T HE man named Crentz was typical of a 
breed that plagued the West from bor¬ 
der to border and from the Rockies to 
the coast. It still exists in certain spots. 
Some twenty years before, be bad slain and 
robbed bis partner, and be bad managed to 
escape from a Montana town, two jumps ahead 
of tbe sheriff and posse. Carrying bis ill-got¬ 
ten gains in a money belt, be bad ridden far 
south, eluding pursuit, and finally be bad come 
to Cactusville at tbe time of tbe first rich strike 
of metal. There be bad built tbe Palace. 

Tbe Palace, within a short space of time, 
became a sort of Mecca for undesirable citi¬ 
zens. A group of them remained after tbe first 
excitement of tbe gold strike bad died down. 
In tbe Palace they plotted their deviltries. It 
was the headquarters for crime and violence. 
Tbe robbery of miners and cow-punchers be- 

94 


WHERE ROGUES GATHER 95 

came an established business, until Crentz and 
the Cactusville gang of bad men went about 
it without compunction and without much 
thought of the wrong manner of their lives. 
They were the natural foes of law and order. 

On this particular afternoon Crentz sat at 
a table in the rear of the Palace, talking to 
Snake Howger and Stub Stibes. Crentz was 
a short, thick man, who looked not unlike a 
city thug. Stibes was something of the same 
type. But Snake Howger, as he had been 
called for years, was of another type entirely, 
though one familiar in the West of other days. 

Snake Howger had been a tinhorn gambler 
in many camps before he arrived in Cactus¬ 
ville. He was always immaculately dressed. 
His hands were white and thin. As he talked, 
he always played with a deck of cards. He 
did not look to be more than thirty-five, though 
he was much older. 

His face was white, his nose thin, and his 
eyes were black and piercing. He seemed to 
have a heart of ice and to be without emotion. 
Only a quick quivering of the thin nostrils 
ever betrayed agitation, if he felt it. Howger 
was known as an expert gunman. The gun 


96 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


that he wore had a pearl handle, but it was 
something more than an ornament. The pearl 
handle was corrugated, so that it would not 
slip out of his hand during quick action. 

“He’s cornin’!” Crentz said. 

“He’s not the first,” Howger replied, riffling 
the cards before him on the table. 

“No, but this one is the worst of the lot, 
I reckon, ’ ’ Stibes put in. 

Howger raised his head quickly and his 
black eyes seemed to flash. 

“What makes you think that?” he de¬ 
manded. 

“Well, Bob Draige-” 

Howger sneered. “Don’t let that little af¬ 
fair in Goldland bother you, Stibes,” he said. 
“He caught Draige off guard when he was 
playin’ poker. Could Draige start a fuss in 
Goldland with the sheriff standin’ within a 
few feet of him? Draige was wise. For all 
that he knew, it might have been a scheme to 
get him started, so they could throw him into 
jail.” 

“But the fist fight-” 

“That’s easily explained,” Howger inter¬ 
rupted. “This fellow Ganley knows how to 



WHERE ROGUES GATHER 97 

box, and Draige doesn’t. In a regular rough- 
and-tumble fight Draige would have about 
beaten him to death. But this man simply 
stood off and beat Draige down. Nobody’s 
seen him shoot yet. And, if he comes here, 
he’s walkin’ right into our own trap.” 

“Well, he’s cornin’,” Crentz said. “What 
are we goin’ to do about it, Snake?” 

“Take it easy until we can look him over. 
If you ask me, he’s a sort of windbag, from 
all I’ve heard.” 

“He’s been in the Texas Rangers, they say.” 

“He isn’t in them now,” Howger replied. 
“He hasn’t an organization like that to back 
him up. We’ve handled other deputies, and 
we ought to be able to handle this man. We’ll 
go slow at first and look him over. I told 
Draige to keep out of his sight for a time.” 

But at that moment Bob Draige slipped 
quietly into the room through a rear door. 
He glanced down the length of the long bar and 
saw perhaps a score of the citizens of Cactus- 
ville, men generally around the place. Then 
he hurried across to the table where the three 
were sitting. Draige showed the results of his 
encounter with Dick Ganley. His face was 


98 


THE RANGERS 7 CODE 


bruised and discolored, and one eye was almost 
closed. There was a split on one cheek, too. 

“Draige,” Howger said, “ you’d better 
sneak out of here. That deputy is cornin’.” 

“That’s why I’m here,” Draige said trucu¬ 
lently. 

“Want to start a fuss, do you?” Howger 
sneered. “Want him to lick you again?” 

“I’ll have an even chance here, I reckon.” 

“You do as I told you, Draige,” Howger 
commanded. “I want to size up this man be¬ 
fore we make a move. You’ll get your chance 
at him in time.” 

“When I do-” 

“Don’t tell us about it now,” Howger said. 
“Wait until I give the word, and then we’ll 
stand back and watch you.” 

Draige leaned across the table. “I don’t 
like the way you talk, Snake,” he said thickly. 
“You talk as if you thought that I’d been 
good and licked and never would amount to 
anything again. I don’t like it.” 

“Time will tell!” 

“Don’t you say that, Snake! Don’t talk that 
way! You give me a chance, and I’ll send this 
jasper to Boot Hill. He had the drop on me 



WHERE ROGUES GATHER 99 

when I was playin’ cards. Give me an even 
break with a gun in my hand-” 

“I told you to keep out of sight for a time,” 
Howger interrupted. “I want to see what kind 
of a man this deputy is. We don’t want to 
make any mistake.” 

“Gettin’ a little scared yourself, are you?” 
Draige sneered. 

Howger’s black eyes suddenly became spark¬ 
ling pin points. “You’d better go a little slow 
in your talk, Draige,” he said. “Are you 
eager to mix it with me ? If you want to start 
anything, Draige, you’ve got a gun on your 
hip. Well?” 

There was a moment of tense silence, during 
which Crentz and Stibes breathed heavily. 
And then Bob Draige relaxed and stepped 
back a pace. 

“I—I didn’t mean anything, Snake,” he 
said, still talking thickly. “But that man beat 
me up. He made a fool out of me in Goldland. 
And I want a fair chance at him!” 

“I’ll see that you get your chance, Bob. It’s 
your right, ’ ’ Howger told him. ‘ ‘ But you wait 
until I give the word. We don’t want to crowd 
things and have the sheriff bringing a posse 


100 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


over here. It’ll be pay day in a few days, and 
we want to clean up. Start a fuss now, and we 
won’t get the chance.” 

“All right, Snake, but I want a square 
deal,” Bob Draige said. “I want a chance at 
that man. And I don’t want him to get away 
before I get my chance.” 

“He’s cornin’, ain’t he? And he won’t get 
away.” 

“Yeh, he’s cornin’. And I happen to know 
that Jessie Bangan rode out to meet him.” 

Howger suddenly sat erect in his chair. 
“What’s that?” he demanded. 

“I was watchin’, Snake. She took one of 
the cow ponies and rode out and met him. 
They talked for a while out there, and then 
she came back by the south trail, and this 
deputy rode slow and came toward town along 
the north trail.” 

‘‘ Huh! ’ ’ Howger grunted. ‘ 1 1 reckon we ’ll 
have to see about that.” 

“I told you a long time ago to keep your 
eyes on that girl, Snake. Just because you 
happen to be stuck on her is no reason for let- 
tin’ her run our heads into a noose.” 

“That’s enough of that talk, Bob.” 


WHERE ROGUES GATHER 101 

“Well, what about it^” 

“You seem to forget that Nick Bangan was 
our head man once.” 

“I’m not forgettin’ that, Snake; but Nick 
has been dead for more than a year. It’s all 
right for us to slip his widow a few dollars 
now and then, so she’ll keep her mouth shut. 
And she’s an all-right woman, too. She knows 
what Nick was doin’ when he was alive, and 
she knows what we’re doin’ now, and she’s 
with us. But that girl is different. ’Tain’t 
like she was Nick’s daughter—she’s only a 
niece. She thinks that we ’re a bunch o ’ crooks. 
Give her a chance, and she’ll wreck the gang.” 

“Oh, I’ll have a little talk with her,” How- 
ger said. “I can handle the girl all right. 
Maybe I have been a little too easy with her.” 

“If you’re so crazy about her, make her 
marry you,” Crentz put in. “Her aunt will 
help her make up her mind. And there’s some¬ 
thin ’ in law as says a wife can’t testify against 
her husband.” 

“I’ll handle that end of our affairs, gents, if 
you don’t mind,” Howger said. 

His voice was deadly. The others licked at 
their lips and remained quiet. They knew a 


102 


THE HANGERS’ CODE 


dangerous moment when they encountered one. 

“Enough of this!” Howger said. “We’ll 
just act natural and see what this new deputy 
does. Don’t make the first break. And you be 
mighty careful, Draige! You’ll get your 
chance at him, all right, but I don’t want you 
to start rushin’ things and spoilin’ all our 
plans.” 

“Maybe we’d better see what The King has 
to say about it,” Crentz suggested. 

The four of them laughed. Snake Howger 
spoke again. 

“You can just consider that what I’ve said 
comes straight from The King,” he told them. 

“It looks funny that Jessie Bangan-” 

Draige began. 

“I told you to forget that part of it,” How¬ 
ger interrupted harshly. “I’ll see the girl. 
You don’t need to worry about that. I ’ll speak 
to her aunt, too.” 

“That girl could tell the deputy a lot,” said 
Stibes. 

“Certainly, and what good would it do 
him ¥” Howger asked. 4 4 One of the other depu¬ 
ties gathered a lot of evidence, but he didn’t 
get back to the sheriff with it. And he didn’t 



WHERE ROGUES GATHER 103 

make any arrests, either, if I remember right. 
Are you men gettin’ scared ? You’d better take 
a bracer. Scared of this new deputy because 
he happens to be a boxer and whipped Bob? 
He’s no worse than any of the others. Just 
sit pretty, and we’ll see how he acts.” 

A man came hurrying in from the street. 
He went at once to the table. 

“He’s come!” he announced in a hoarse 
whisper. “He bluffed Jones and made Jones 
take care of his horse, and then he went to the 
hotel. Now he’s comin ’ here! ’ ’ 

“Here ?” Howger gasped. 

“Yeh! He’s cornin’ right here to the Pal¬ 
ace!” 


CHAPTER IX 


STRAIGHT TALK 

G ANLEY allowed his body to sway from 
■ side to side, as he walked, yet it was 
with more grace than awkwardness. If 
he gave the appearance of a saddle-weary and 
tired man, the appearance was deceitful. Gan- 
ley was not tired from his journey. And he 
was alert, cautious, half expecting excitement 
and ready to have a share in it. 

Those citizens of Cactusville who happened 
to be in the street, he noticed, took one glance 
at him and then disappeared rapidly into the 
nearest buildings. Ganley looked into some 
of the stores, observed the post office and bank, 
and in a leisurely fashion stamped the map 
of the town upon his brain. He spotted the 
Palace immediately, not by its noise as Charlie 
Rennis had suggested, but by an old, gilt sign 
that was stretched above the sun-blistered and 
warped plank sidewalk. 

104 


STRAIGHT TALK 


105 


Ganley’s hand dropped for a fraction of a 
second to make sure that his six-gun was where 
it should be. He was smiling whimsically, as 
he gently spread wide the swinging doors of 
the Palace and entered the resort. There were 
ten or more men in the place when Ganley 
entered, and almost all of them were gathered 
before the bar, listening to some story that 
the bartender was telling. Their voices died 
away, as they caught sight of the gleaming star 
on Ganley’s breast. Snake Howger, Stibes, 
and Crentz remained sitting at the table mo¬ 
tionless and silent. Dick Ganley strode up to 
the bar in a matter-of-fact fashion, and the 
bartender approached. 

“Bottle of sarsaparilla,” Ganley ordered. 

There was not a sound in the room, as the 
bartender served him. Some of the men who 
had been before the bar moved across the room 
to be outside a possible line of fire. They did 
not know how Howger and his close associates 
would take this invasion of the Palace by the 
new deputy sheriff. 

“This is a right nice little town,” Ganley 
told the bartender, smiling at him across 


106 


THE RANGEKS’ CODE 


the bar. “I heard tell that it was a tough 
place. But, shucks, she looks tame enough 
to me.” 

“Yeh?” the bartender gasped. 

“Yeh! I’ve seen lots tougher places. One 
of your bad men came over to Goldland a few 
days ago, and I had a run-in with him. He 
wasn’t very tough!” 

The man behind the bar gasped again and 
seemed to have been rendered speechless. He 
failed to understand this outspoken manner of 
the new deputy. The other deputies who had 
been sent to Cactusville had been careful with 
their words, and this man seemed to be court¬ 
ing trouble openly. Either he was a big fool, 
or a big man, the bartender judged. 

“I’m Ganley, deputy sheriff!” Ganley an¬ 
nounced in a voice that all in the room could 
hear easily. “I noticed a right smart amount 
of queer and amusin’ signs along the trail, 
as I was ridin’ in. They made me laugh. 
That’s a funny way to welcome a man.” 

“Yeh?” the bartender said. He seemed in¬ 
capable of saying anything more. 

“Yeh!” said Ganley. “One alluded to a cer¬ 
tain ready-made hole in your local Boot Hill, 


STRAIGHT TALK 


107 

and another said as how any deputy sheriff 
was liable to get shot if he happened to visit 
the Palace. This is the Palace, ain’t it?” 

“Yeh!” 

“Well, I’m here!” Ganley announced. 

There was as deep a silence followed that 
remark as there had been before. The citizens 
of Cactusville were astounded. Every man in 
the resort was waiting for Snake Howger to 
give the cue. But Howger remained silent 
also. 

The bartender was frankly and openly 
nervous. He glanced apprehensively toward 
Howger and Crentz, but he got no sign from 
them. So he acted in a perfectly natural man¬ 
ner. 

“Have one on the house, deputy,” he said. 

“No—thanks just the same. One bottle of 
sarsaparilla at a time is plenty.” 

“If we didn’t have this prohibition thing 
I could give you somethin’ more to your likin’ 
maybe.” 

“Don’t make me laugh!” Ganley said. 
“Prohibition doesn’t bother you gents much, 
I’ve got an idea.” 

Crentz got up and strode forward. “Joe, 


108 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 

give the deputy some of the real stuff,” he 
commanded the bartender. Then he faced the 
deputy. “My name is Crentz,” he said. “I 
own the Palace.” 

“Good enough!” Ganley told him. “But 
never mind the booze.” 

“Goin’ to enforce the prohibition laws, eh?” 
Crentz asked. 

Crentz was not without craft and cunning. 
He realized well that there was a sort of decent 
element in the town and surrounding country 
that might take a notion to back up the work 
of a deputy sheriff. But even this decent ele¬ 
ment, which clung to the traditions of the old 
days, would not back up a deputy who made 
an attempt to enforce the prohibition law 
strictly. 

“No, sir!” Ganley said promptly. “That 
prohibition stuff is Federal business. It’s too 
small fry with me just now. I like a drink as 
well as the next man, I reckon, if the liquor 
is good. But I don’t drink when I’m on duty, 
and I’m on duty now!” 

“I see,” Crentz said. “How about gam¬ 
blin’?” 


STRAIGHT TALK 109 

Ganley smiled knowingly again. “ Ordinary 
games go, so the sheriff says. I don’t aim to 
stop men’s pleasure. But the boys from the 
mines and the ranches have got to have a 
chance. No deliberate fleecin’ of ’em on pay 
days. Any man that I catch playin’ crooked 
stops right there and then.” 

“Yehf” 

“ Yeh!” said Ganley. “I’ve already stopped 
Bob Draige. His work is awful raw. He ain’t 
even a smooth card sharp.” 

Again there was silence in the room except 
for the sound of breaths drawn in quickly. 
But Draige was not present to take offense* 
and Snake Howger made no move to defend 
his absent lieutenant. Howger was watching 
Ganley carefully, appraising him. 

“I reckon that we’ll get along all right, 
Crentz,” Ganley said, “if you gents behave 
yourselves. But this here town of Cactusville 
has got to tame down some. She’s goin’ to be 
a regular town run by her citizens, not ex¬ 
ploited by a gang of crooks.” 

“What’s this about a gang of crooks V 1 
Crentz demanded. 


110 


THE BANGERS* CODE 

“You’re bound and determined to make me 
laugh, ain’t you? I know blamed well, and 
so do you, that this town is bein’ run by 
a gang of crooks. But them happy days are 
over.” 

“Yeh?” Crentz sneered. 

“Yeh,” said Ganley firmly. 

“You don’t seem to care how you talk,” 
Crentz said. “You must be lookin’ for 
trouble.” 

“ I ’ll be right here waitin’, if it comes, ’ ’ Gan¬ 
ley told him. “I just dropped in here to have 
a little understandin’.” 

“Why in here?” 

“My good gosh! I’ve been told that this is 
the headquarters for the gang o’ bad men 
that’s been terrorizin’ the citizens. But you 
don’t look very bad to me.” 

“No?” 

“No!” said Ganley. “It’s funny how re¬ 
ports get out and gents get overestimated, ain’t 
it?” 

Crentz almost choked with rage. He glanced 
wildly at Howger, but Snake Howger gave no 
sign. Stibes was sitting on the edge of his 


STRAIGHT TALK 


111 


chair, as though waiting for an explosion. The 
other men in the Palace were careful to keep 
near the walls and out of harm’s way. 

“You think that you’re pretty tough, don’t 
you?” Crentz snarled. 

“I didn’t use to think so,” Granley replied. 
“But after meetin’ up with some gents that 
have the reputation of bein’ tough, I’m willin’^ 
to think that I must be.” 

“So you’re goin’ to run this town?” 

“Yes, sir!” Dick Ganley replied immmedi- 
ately. *‘I don’t aim to bother anybody’s legiti¬ 
mate business, understand; but we’re goin’ to 
fix it so there’ll be fewer robberies and mur¬ 
ders. And we’ll have fair and square gam¬ 
blin’, too.” 

“And you’re goin’ to do all this?” 

“I reckon,” Ganley answered simply. 
“Now you tell me somethin’. You’ve done 
asked a lot of questions, and it’s my turn.” 

“What is it that you want to know?” Crentz 
asked. 

“Is there a jail in this town?” 

“Yeh; it’s an adobe buildin’ down at the 
lower end of the street, but the key’s lost.” 

Somebody in the room had courage enough 


112 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


to chuckle. But, instead of showing anger, the 
new deputy grinned. 

“Have to get a new, strong lock, I reckon,’’ 
he said. “I may want to use that jail to keep 
some folks in until I get time to take ’em to 
Goldland. How about the constable ?’ ’ 

“Bob Draige was elected constable at the 
last election.” 

4 4 Huh! You thought that it was right down 
funny to elect him, I suppose. He’s no con¬ 
stable! Well, we can eliminate him. I’ll ap¬ 
point a man constable when I find one good 
enough. And now tell me this—outside your¬ 
self, who are the bad men of the town?” 

Crentz grew purple with wrath again. 
4 4 Outside myself?” he gasped. 

“Yeh! Oh, I’ve got your number,” Ganley 
told him calmly. 4 4 You are the headquarters 
man—run this place where the bad hombres 
can hang out. You collect your share, I reck¬ 
on, without actually gettin’ into any of the 
fuss. I’ve seen quite a few gents like you. 
Oh, you needn’t get mad about it. It won’t 
do you any good. We understand each other, 
I guess.” 


STRAIGHT TALK 


113 


There was another chorus of gasps from 
those in the room, but still Snake Howger gave 
no sign. Crentz seemed to be on the point of 
an explosion, but he managed to control him¬ 
self. 

“You’re some outspoken, ain’t yuh?” he 
said. 

“I might as well be,” Ganley replied. 
“There’s nothin’ like havin’ an understandin’. 
I know that there’s been a lot of muss and 
fuss in this here town, but now we’re startin’ 
with a clean slate—except for one thing.” 

“Yeh?” 

4 ‘Yes, sir; We’ll just wipe out the past, and 
if you bad men are good boys from now 
on you won’t have anything to fear from 
me. The past is wiped out—with one ex¬ 
ception.” 

“And what is that?” Crentz asked. 

“The murder of one Jack Matton about six 
months ago,” Ganley told him. “We won’t 
wipe that off the slate until the man respon¬ 
sible pays for the crime .’ 2 

Every man in the room stood like a statue, 
scarcely breathing. Few of them knew 
the actual truth about that crime, but all 


114 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

of them had reason to believe that Crentz and 
Howger and the gang knew a great deal 
about it. 

“Well, you’re plain-spoken enough,” Crentz 
replied. “If I remember rightly, this man 
Jack Matton got to drinkin’ and became quar¬ 
relsome. He had a few fights, and one mornin’ 
he was found dead up on the side of the 
hill.” 

“Killed—and robbed,” Ganley said. 

“I suppose that somebody he’d had trouble 
with did for him.” 

“I knew him,” Dick Ganley said. “He 
didn’t drink at all. And he never quarreled 
unless somebody else started it and forced a 
fight on him. He was killed because he had a 
thousand dollars or so on him, and the crooks 
couldn’t get the money any other way. I’ll go 
into that case later, and I’ll go into it mighty 
deep. And now I want to ask you another 
question.” 

“Well?” 

“There is supposed to be a man hangin’ 
around Cactusville who goes by the name of 
Snake Howger. I want to see that man. 
Where is he?” 


STRAIGHT TALK 115 

Again there was dead silence in the Palace 
for a moment. It was strictly up to Howger 
now. And then a voice came from the rear 
of the room. 

“Right here!” Howger said. 

He left his chair, left Stibes sitting at the 
table, and strode slowly across the room to 
the bar and along the bar toward Ganley, his 
hands hanging at his sides, his face expression¬ 
less and as inscrutable as the countenance of 
an Oriental. 

“I ? m Snake Howger,” he said. “If you 
want to talk to me, now is your chance.” 

Howger’s face was white, his nostrils quiv¬ 
ering in their danger signal, his black eyes 
flashing. He stood erect a few feet in front 
of Dick Ganley and waited. Ganley looked 
him up and down after the manner of a man 
inspecting a horse he thought of buying. 

“So you are Howger, eh?” the new deputy 
said. 

“Yes; what do you wish to see me about?” 
asked Howger. 

“I just want to slip a little warning into 
your ears,” Ganley told him frankly. “I’ve 
been told, Howger, that you’re one of the big 


116 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


bosses of the bad men in these parts. If you 
are, Howger, you want to change your mode 
of life pronto! Understand me? From now 
on I’ll have my eyes on you!” 

Every man in the room held his breath. 
That a man could stand up before Snake How¬ 
ger and talk like that to him almost passed 
understanding. They expected to see How¬ 
ger’s hand make a lightninglike movement and 
come up holding a weapon spitting flame. 
Ganley himself half expected it, perhaps, for 
he bent forward slightly, as though ready for 
quick action. 

Howger licked at his lips, and his eyes 
flashed still more. When he spoke it was 
in a thin voice that was trembling with 
emotion. 

“You don’t care how insulting you are, do 
you?” he said 

“Not when I’m talkin’ to a man of your 
stamp, Howger,” Ganley replied. “Don’t try 
any of your fancy talk on me now. It won’t go 
down. I understand you all right, and I 
reckon that you understand me. If you want 
to behave, I won’t bother you.” 

Again the ominous silence. For a space they 


STRAIGHT TALK 


117 


looked straight at each other. Howger made 
no hostile move. Hick Ganley stood as though 
waiting. Crentz was like a statue. Stibes was 
prepared to go into action. The others in the 
Palace seemed paralyzed for the moment. 

And the moment passed. The expression of 
Howger’s face softened a bit. He gave a smile 
that was half a sneer. 

“Is that all you have to say to me?” he 
asked. 

‘‘ That’s all, Howger! ” 

“Very well. Consider that you have said 
it.” 

That was all. Some of Howger’s friends 
were disappointed. Some others felt that 
this was only the beginning and not the end. 
For another moment they faced each other 
without moving and then Ganley swayed 
gently against the bar, and his eyes swept the 
room. 

“Draige isn’t here, I see,” he said. “Tell 
him that he needn’t be afraid of me unless he 
starts to play poker. I reckon that is all for 
now. I’m eager to get back to the hotel and 
eat me a meal.” 

He smiled upon the assembled company, de- 


118 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


liberately turned Ms back, and strode through 
the swinging doors. 

Howger found himself instantly the center 
of a talking, gesticulating group. 

“Why didn’t you shoot him down?” Crentz 
asked hoarsely. 

“He’s got nerve,” Howger admitted. “He 
turned his back. I don’t want to shoot a man 
like that in the back.” 

“Mean to say you didn’t have the nerve to 
try it when he was facin’ you?” Crentz de¬ 
manded. 

Howger whirled upon him like a snake ready 
to strike. “Enough of that kind of talk,” he 
commanded. 

Stibes rushed through the crowd. “It’s 
nothin’ but loud talk!” he declared. “That 
feller is an ex-ranger. The rangers always do 
that—talk big and throw a bluff.” 

Howger turned toward him. “My dear 
Stibes, don’t be a fool!” he said. “Rangers 
talk big, but they always back up their talks. 
I’ve seen them at work. This man Ganley was 
playing a game. He talked and acted that way 
because he thought he’d make some of us mad, 
and that we’d forget ourselves and come out 


STRAIGHT TALK 119 

in the open with him. It wasn't the time for a 
show-down. I've seen that sort of man before. 
He’s dangerous!” 

“Dangerous?” Crentz scoffed. “So were 
the others.” 

“This man is more dangerous than all the 
others put together. He was picked for the 
job. We’ve got to be careful and move slow. 
Remember that!” 

“What are we goin’ to do?” Stibes asked. 

“ We ’re going to be clever. Take it easy for 
a time. I’m glad that Draige slipped out just 
before this man came in. Draige might have 
spoiled things by taking a shot at him.” 

“Suppose he had?” 

“We don’t want anything quite so open as 
that,” Howger said, with a great deal of mean¬ 
ing. “The sheriff may be waiting for just 
that.” 

“It’ll be pay day soon,” J Crentz reminded 
him. “And we won’t make much profit out of 
it if this fresh new deputy is runnin’ the 
town.” 

“It is several days before pay day,” How¬ 
ger said, “and a lot of things can happen in 
several days. But whatever happens must not 


120 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


be too raw. Take it easy. Let him rave 
around, if he likes it. Let him think that he’s 
got us scared. Let him bluster his way into 
a row with somebody, and then-” 

“And then,” Stibes whispered, as Howger 
stopped, “he can be shuffled off, and the 
somebody he had a row with can be blamed 
for it.” 

Snake Howager grinned evilly. “Stibes,” 
he said, “there are times when I am almost 
convinced you’ve got brains. You’d better ride 
herd on Bob Draige as much as you can and 
keep him under cover. I don’t want him start¬ 
ing trouble before it is time. If this is to be a 
show-down, we don’t want to make any mis¬ 
takes.” 

“If he gets talkin’ to Jessie Bangan-” 

Stibes began. 

“I’ll attend to that,” Howger interrupted. 
“And I’ll attend to a lot more, too. This deal 
calls for a different kind of a game. You can’t 
bluff a man who holds four aces. And there’s 
just one thing more that I want to say—if 
there is any man here who thinks that this new 
deputy had me scared and made me back down, 



STRAIGHT TALK 121 

let him say it now to my face and shoot it out 
with me.” 

Nobody spoke. If any man there enter¬ 
tained such an idea, he was careful to keep it 
strictly to himself. 


CHAPTER X 


TO A LADY'S AID 


ASPING his surprise, Charlie Rennis 



rubbed his eyes with the back of a 


horny hand when Dick Ganley walked 
into the hotel lobby from the street. 

“Are you alive, or a ghost?" he demanded. 

“I reckon that I'm alive, if hunger is any 
indication," Ganley replied. 

Charlie Rennis snorted his unbelief. He 
stared hard for a moment and then spoke 
again. 

“Your room is No. 4, right up them stairs 
and to the back of the buildin’, and I hope that 
you’ll like it," Charlie Rennis said. “I put 
your blanket roll in there, but I didn’t send up 
any water because I reckoned as how you 
maybe wouldn’t need it. I’m right glad to see 
that you got out of the Palace alive. Maybe 
you’ll last a week and make a new record for 
deputies." 


122 


TO A LADY’S AID 123 

Ganley grinned and ascended to his room. 
He was satisfied with it. There was but one 
door and one window, and the bed was in the 
safest corner. The window could not be 
reached from the ground without a ladder 
being used. The door was furnished with an 
ordinary lock that could almost be opened with 
a piece of wire, but it was possible for a 
man to brace the head of a chair beneath the 
knob. 

Ganley washed, as soon as Charlie Rennis 
sent up a Chinese with some water, and when 
he descended the rickety stairs again he found 
that the door of the dining room had been 
thrown open. Ganley walked in and took a 
seat at a table in a corner, where he could 
have his back against the wall and could com¬ 
mand the door and all the windows in the 
room. 

About a score of the citizens of Cactusville 
partook of the evening meal at the establish¬ 
ment of Charlie Rennis. There was not a 
woman dining in the place, though. Snake 
Howger and Stibes ate there with Crentz, and 
they sat together at a table near the door, talk¬ 
ing and laughing together. 


124 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


Ganley finished his meal and walked calmly 
past their table and into the lobby of the hotel, 
where he seated himself to one side and rolled 
and lighted a cigarette. Men came in from the 
street, and others passed through to the street 
from the dining room, but none spoke to 
him. 

Ganley did not expect any show of cordiality 
from the citizens of Cactusville this early in 
the game. They were human enough to be 
inclined to favor the winning side. If Ganley 
was defeated and forced to leave the town, or 
repose there forever on Boot Hill, they would 
have to remain. And they did not care to show 
favoritism now in behalf of the deputy and 
attract the attention of Howger and the 
gang, who might feel like taking vengeance 
later. 

After a time Howger passed through the 
lobby with Crentz and Stub Stibes, paying not 
the slightest attention to the new deputy 
sheriff. The three disappeared down the street 
in the direction of the Palace. But at the front 
door of the establishment, Howger left the 
others and walked on. He reached the end of 
the street and turned up the side of the hill, 


TO A LADY’S AID 


125 


going toward where a pin point of light flashed 
in the window of a little cottage. The cottage 
was owned by Nick Bangan’s widow, and she 
lived there with her niece, Jessie, the girl who 
had met Ganley on the trail. 

Snake Howger walked slowly, puffing at a 
cigar, stopping now and then in his climb to 
look down at the flickering lights of the town. 
He did not like to admit to himself that the 
coming of Dick Ganley to Cactusville had 
bothered him more than the arrivals of the 
other deputies sheriff Tom Thomas had sent, 
yet it was so. 

Howger told himself that the others had 
been easy to deal with, and hence he had de¬ 
parted from his usual cunning and had dealt 
with them with a measure of contempt. But 
this new man, he knew well, was of a different 
stripe. He possessed both courage and cun¬ 
ning and was a foeman to call out the best 
Snake Howger had to offer. Howger came 
to the door of the cottage and knocked. The 
door was opened immediately by Mrs. Bangan, 
and Howger smiled and stepped inside. 

There had been a time when Nick Bangan 
had been the acknowledged head of the forces 


126 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

of vice in Cactusville. It was the irony of 
fate that he had been carried off by pneumonia 
and had died in his bed. His widow, a middle- 
aged woman of unprepossessing appearance, 
had known all Nick Bangan’s secrets, for he 
had loved the woman and had told her all. And 
Howger and his associates found it handy to 
give the widow money now and then to keep 
her mouth shut, as well as out of respect to 
Nick Bangan, a man they had admired as 
having a greater amount of evil in his soul 
than the rest of them. 

Jessie Bangan had lived with her uncle and 
aunt since her parents had died, when she was 
but five years old. But the girl had good blood 
in her veins, and, though she naturally un¬ 
derstood the circumstances, she abhorred 
them. 

Howger never had felt sure of Jessie Ban¬ 
gan. And so he had told her aunt to keep her 
close, to prevent her having money, to see that 
she did not talk and did not get away from the 
town. Jessie Bangan away from the cottage 
would have been helpless. She had no idea of 
how a woman could earn her own living. And 
so she shared with her aunt the proceeds of 


TO A LADY’S AID 127 

crime, her aunt saying that Nick Bangan 
had left her an interest in a distant mining 
claim. 

And now, when Howger entered the front 
room of the little cottage, Jessie Bangan 
turned from a corner of the room, where she 
had been working, and looked straight at him 
without fear. Howger bowed to her with 
exaggerated politeness. Mrs. Bangan placed a 
chair for him at the side of the table, and 
Howger sat down. He was not without clever¬ 
ness when it came to dealing with Mrs. Bangan. 
He realized that she was a shallow woman. 
And so now he handed her a roll of bills first 
of all. 

“Something from the boys,” he said in low 
tones. 

“Thanks, Mr. Howger,” the widow replied, 
smiling at him and tucking the bills away. 
“The boys are awfully good to me, and you 
are, too, Mr. Howger.” 

“We are glad that you appreciate it,” How¬ 
ger said. “And we have a little favor to ask 
of you.” 

“Anything, Mr. Howger—anything at all!” 

Jessie moved toward the door, as though to 


128 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

leave, but Howger raised a band and prevented 
ber. 

“I want you to bear tbis, too, Jessie,” be 
said. 

“I’m not interested,” tbe girl replied. 

“I reckon that you’re interested in tbis all 
right,” Howger said. “Mrs. Bangan, nobody 
likes a dog that bites tbe band that feeds it— 
not that I am calling Jessie a dog.” 

“What do you mean?” Mrs. Bangan de¬ 
manded. 

“Tbe new deputy sheriff came into town 
to-day,” Howger replied. “He’s a tougher 
customer than tbe others, but we can handle 
him. Only it will be easier if we have no inter¬ 
ference from tbe inside. Jessie rode out and 
met him, as be came in from Goldland.” 

“Jessie!” ber aunt shouted. 

“And I’d like to know what she talked to 
him about, ’ ’ Howger continued. ‘ ‘ It wouldn’t 
look good if she told him some things that 
would reflect on her dead uncle and bis 
friends.” 

‘ 1 J essie ? ’ ’ Mrs. Bangan seemed to demand 
an explanation by ber inflection of tbe name. 

Jessie seemed to have nothing to say. She 


TO A LADY’S AID 


129 


turned away from them and pretended to be 
arranging some things upon a shelf in the 
corner of the room. 

“What did you talk to him about ?” Howger 
demanded. 

She faced him bravely. “I told him to go 
hack to Goldland,” she said. “I told him that 
he’d probably be killed if he did not, and that 
there had been murders enough.” 

“And did he ask why you should warn 
him?” 

“Yes, and I told him that it was just because 
I hated to have men killed here. I didn’t men¬ 
tion any names, and I didn’t let him get any 
information out of me.” 

“It would please me a lot better if you did 
not bother with things that don’t concern you,” 
he told her. 

“But they do concern me,” she cried, 
whirling upon him. “My uncle was a mur¬ 
derer and a thief, and you know it. Everybody 
knows it—even my aunt. And we’re livin’ on 
money given to us by other thieves and mur¬ 
derers to keep our mouths shut! I’m ashamed! 
I want to be decent and honest.” 

“ Well, I reckon that you are. ’ ’ 


130 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

* i In some ways, yes,’ 9 she said. ‘ 4 But I don’t 
want to live like this. I’d rather work my 
fingers to the hone.” 

“You talk like a sky pilot,” Howger said, 
laughing at her. 

“Maybe I do, but it’s straight talk,” she 
said. 

“You don’t look at things right,” said How* 
ger. “You’ve lived in this little town all your 
life, and you haven’t associated with folks 
much. You’ve been broodin’ over nothin’, I 
imagine. We’ll have to change that.” 

“How can it be changed?” she demanded. 

“You might marry me,” Howger said 
“I’ve asked you enough times.” 

“And you can go on askin’ me until I die, 
and I’ll never tell you that I’ll marry you,” 
she answered. “I won’t marry a man like 
you.” 

“Rather marry a parson or a deputy sheriff, 
I suppose.” 

“It’d be some honest man,” she declared. 

Snake Howger surveyed her calmly for a 
moment and then got up from the chair. He 
advanced slowly toward her, and she retreated 
until her back was against the wall. And sud- 


TO A LADY’S AID 131 

denly Howger sprang forward and grasped 
her by the wrist, whirled her to the middle of 
the room, and held her there. 

“We’ll have no more of this nonsense, 
young lady!’ 9 Howger said. u We don 1 intend 
to have Nick Bangan’s niece slip a noose over 
our heads! You’ll act sensible from now on. 
You’ll not talk to that deputy sheriff again. 
Keep out of other folks’ affairs. Understand 
me?” 

“How dare you talk to me like that?” she 
stormed. 4 4 What right have you-’ ’ 

44 What right?” Howger asked, laughing. 
44 The gang paid for the clothes you’re wearin’ 
right now, for the food you ate an hour ago. 
But you’re Nick Bangan’s niece! That’s the 
answer. You’ll be sensible from now on. We 
aren’t askin’ you to help us play the game. 
But we are askin’ you to keep quiet and keep 
your hands off. Think we’ll keep on support¬ 
ing you and your aunt if you don’t ?” 

His last remark frightened Nick Bangan’s 
widow. She, too, advanced upon the girl. 

4 4 You ungrateful wretch, ’ ’ she cried. 4 4 Take 
the bread and butter out of my mouth, will 
you ? After I’ve raised you the way I have ?” 


132 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


“It’d be the best if she’d marry me,” How- 
ger said, calm once more. 

“I’m willin’,” Mrs. Bangan said. “A girl 
like her needs a husband.” 

“Then we’ll consider it settled,” said How- 
ger. “She won’t be so eager to tell tales to a 
deputy if she’s married to me. I can tame her, 
I reckon.” 

Jessie Bangan jerked loose from his grasp 
and whirled toward the door. 

“I’ll never marry you,” she cried. “You 
can’t make me! And I never told the new 
deputy anything, only begged him to keep 
away from Cactusville. But I might talk if 
I’m driven too far! You’d better remember 
that.” 

Snake Howger’s face became a thunder¬ 
cloud. “I reckon that settles it,” he said. 
“You’re dangerous when you talk like that. 
We’ll be married to-morrow, and that maybe 
will stop your mouth! Come here tome!” 

Howger had handled many men in that 
fashion and some women, but now he made a 
mistake. He could not handle Jessie Bangan 
like that. As he lurched toward her, she 


TO A LADY’S AID 133 

pulled open the door and rushed out into the 
night. 

‘‘Come tome!” Howger shrieked. He darted 
after her. He paused a moment, hearing the 
sounds she made, as she rushed down the path 
toward the town. Snake Howger, fearing, 
took up the pursuit. 

But Jessie Bangan had no idea of running 
to the deputy and telling what she knew. She 
only wanted to get away from Howger. She 
was on the verge of hysterics. Howger always 
seemed to have that effect upon her. She ran 
down the path toward the distant street be¬ 
cause the path was smooth, and running was 
easier there. She knew that Howger was rush¬ 
ing along behind her, and she redoubled her 
speed. Once she tripped and almost fell. She 
only wanted to evade him, dodge him, and then 
go back to the cottage. She could endure her 
aunt’s caustic talk, but she could not endure 
Snake Howger. She finally came to the edge 
of the poorly lighted street, and at that moment 
Howger overtook her and grasped her cruelly 
by the arm again. She fought ineffectually for 
a moment in an effort to get free, and then, 


134 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

panting, almost exhausted, frightened a bit, 
she stood before him. 

‘ 4 Why did you run away from me!” Howger 
demanded. “I told you to come to me.” 

“You let me go,” she cried. 

“Lower your voice and be sensible. Want 
everybody in town to be laughin’ at us?” 

“You let me go,” she cried again. 

She began fighting again as well as she knew 
how, kicking at him, trying to scratch his face 
with her free hand. 

“You little wildcat,” Howger shrieked. 
“I’ll tame you, all right! Be sensible now.” 

“Let me go, you beast!” 

“Beast, huh? Just for that I’ll-” 

A voice suddenly came out of the gloom 
beside them. 

“You’d better let the lady go, Howger,” it 
said. 

Still holding her by the arm, Howger whirled 
halfway around to find that Dick Ganley was 
standing within a few feet of him. 

“What business is this of yours?” Howger 
demanded. 

“Oh, it ain’t any regular business of mine, 
Howger,” Ganley replied. “But I don’t aim 


TO A LADY’S AID 135 

to have women mistreated when I’m around. 
You let her go. Do you hear me? Let her 
go!” 

“Been spyin’ on me, have you?” Howger 
sneered. 

“My good gosh, no! I wouldn’t waste my 
time doin’ a thing like that, Howger. I just 
happened along and heard the fuss. You let 
the lady go.” 

There was a note of command in the deputy’s 
voice now. Howger hesitated for an instant 
and then released Jessie’s arm. She whirled 
away from him in the darkness, running back 
toward her aunt’s cottage. The men remained 
standing face to face. 

“Howger, don’t waste your valuable time 
bother’ and pesterin’ women when there are 
men around that you can fight, if you feel that 
Way,” Ganley told him. “If you want to 
handle somebody rather rough, why don’t you 
pick out some man?” 

“Is it any of your business?” Howger 
sneered. 

“I reckon! I’m here to keep the peace, and 
I aim to see that it’s kept.” 

There was tense silence for a moment. Snake 


136 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


Howger evidently decided that this was neither 
the time nor the place to try conclusions with 
the new deputy sheriff. He noticed particu¬ 
larly that Ganley was standing so that the light 
from the street was at his back, whereas it was 
shining into Howger’s eyes. Under the cir¬ 
cumstances Howger decided that it would be 
the height of folly to attempt to draw and 
shoot. 

“I’m walkin’ back toward the Palace,” 
Ganley said presently. “Are you goin’ that 
wayl” 

“Not with you!” 

“Then you’ll walk ahead of me and not 
behind,” Ganley declared, his meaning not at 
all difficult to understand. “I’m not such a 
fool that I’d risk havin’ you walk behind.” 

“Go right ahead with your insults. You’re 
storin’ up a lot of trouble for yourself!” How¬ 
ger said. 

“Uh-huh! Maybe so!” Ganley replied. 
“But I ain’t worryin’ much about it, and I 
reckon that it won’t keep me from gettin’ my 
regular amount of sleep o’ nights.” 

Ganley stepped to one side, so that the path 
to the street was clear. 


137 


TO A LADY’S AID 

“ After you, Howger,” lie said. 

Snake Howger glared at him for a moment, 
then shrugged his shoulders, turned his back, 
and started slowly along the street toward the 
busy part of the town. 


CHAPTER XI 


love’s first flush 
HE new deputy sheriff not only sur¬ 



vived the night, but he also slept 


comfortably and well, undoubtedly 
bothered not at all by thoughts of being assas¬ 
sinated in his bed. 

Charlie Rennis blinked his little eyes and 
patted his bald head when he beheld Ganley 
descend the rickety stairs an hour after dawn 
and demand breakfast long before it was 
ready. Charlie Rennis was taking a liking to 
the new deputy, something that he had not 
done in regard to Ganley’s predecessors. 

“I take it that you’re a right smart man,” 
Charlie Rennis said. “But you don’t want to 
get too confident, mister. One of the men Tom 
Thomas sent over here lasted for five days, and 
he thought that he had the world by the tail 
and a downhill pull, but he learned different. 
It’s always the darkest just afore the dawn, 


138 


LOVE’S FIRST FLUSH 139 

but a man don’t always live to see the dawn.” 

“I’m seein’ this one,” Ganley told him. 
“And I wish that you’d hurry that breakfast.” 

“It’s sure a waste of time and energy to try 
to hurry up that Chinese cook of mine,” 
Charlie Rennis told him. “He’ll get break¬ 
fast all right, but he’ll get it in his own sweet 
time. I could do with a cup of coffee myself 
right now.” 

Charlie Rennis grinned and stepped nearer 
and lowered his voice, as he continued: 
“There are some wild rumors runnin’ around 
town, deputy,” he said. 

“About me?” Ganley asked. 

“My good gosh, no! You ain’t that promi¬ 
nent,” Charlie Rennis said. “It seems as how 
a couple of the big mines and some of the 
ranches are payin’ off their men a few days 
ahead of time this month, for some reason or 
other. I reckon it’s because the bank happens 
to have a lot of coin on hand and don’t want 
to ship it to Goldland and fetch it back again. 
About day after to-morrow this old town will 
be split wide open. Some of the boys will com¬ 
mence driftin’ in to-morrow, right eager to 
get robbed and killed. Same old story!” 


140 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

“ Thanks, ” Ganley said, Ms eyes narrowing. 

“And I might tell a man like you that it’s 
my humble opinion that the bad men of this 
here town have been lettin’ you alone for that 
reason. They’re tryin’ to lull you to sleep. 
If I was the deputy sheriff of Cactusville I’d 
keep my eyes peeled and my ears open, you 
betcha. I’d hate to be caught, when I wasn’t 
lookin’, and fixed so I couldn’t interfere 
with the gang when they start trimmin’ the 
suckers.” 

Ganley looked fixedly at him. “I get your 
meaning, Rennis,” he said. 

“Yeh, and you want to forget who tipped 
you. I ain’t eager to be carved into mincemeat 
or planted in Boot Hill.” 

“Don’t worry,” Ganley said. 

The Chinese cook at that moment decided 
that it would be proper to feed hungry men, 
and he opened the door of the dining room. 
Rennis and Ganley ate, but not at the same 
table. Charlie Rennis was notMng if not 
cautious. The town was thoroughly awake 
by the time Ganley had finished the morning 
meal, and he went out upon the street and 
strolled along it until he came to the largest 


LOVE’S FIRST FLUSH 141 

general store, where he purchased the very 
best lock that was in stock. 

He went on down the street until he came 
to the jail. It was an old adobe structure about 
fifteen feet square and with walls six feet thick. 
The door, which was a substantial one, was 
standing open. Ganley walked inside and 
inspected the building. There were two small 
windows, each covered with a network of steel 
bars, and the bars, Ganley found upon inspec¬ 
tion, were firmly imbedded in the adobe. In¬ 
side this room there was a single cel! of small 
size. It did not have a lock, but the door could 
be fastened upon the outside with a catch, and 
a man inside the cell would have a difficult time 
opening it. 

Ganley fixed the lock to the door, locked it, 
and slipped the two new keys into his pocket. 
He knew that his actions had been observed. 
As he passed the Palace on his way back up 
the street, Crentz, who was standing before his 
place of business, spoke to him. 

“Gettin’ ready for customers, I see,” Crentz 
said, sneering a bit. 

“Nothin’ like bein’ ready,” Ganley replied. 

“Expectin’ much trade ?” 


142 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

“A man never can tell,” Ganley replied. 
“Might as well be prepared for a rush.” 

He went on np the street when Crentz evi¬ 
dently had nothing more to say. He visited 
the stable and communicated with Jones and 
ascertained that his horse was being cared for 
tenderly. Jones, he sensed, was not in accord 
with him but he was doing his duty toward the 
horse, which was about all that Ganley could 
expect. 

Strolling down the street again, he came 
face to face with Jessie Bangan, who had been 
to one of the stores. The street was almost 
deserted. Ganley lifted his hat and spoke. 
The girl glanced quickly up and down the 
street and stepped closer to him. 

“Thanks for what you did last night,” she 
said in a low voice. 

‘ ‘ That’s nothin ’, ’ ’ Ganley told her. ‘ 4 1 don’t 
like to see a man annoy a woman, that’s all. 
Let me carry that basket.” 

“I—I can carry it,” she said. 

“You just let me,” Ganley said firmly. “I’ll 
walk to the end of the street with you. That 
basket’s full of groceries, and it’s heavy.” 

She surrendered the basket, though reluc- 


LOVE’S FIRST FLUSH 


143 


tantly. Ganley saw that she seemed half 
afraid. But her head went up, and she walked 
slowly beside him, while he talked of ordinary 
things. And after a time they came to where 
the path started up the hill toward her aunt’s 
cottage. 

“I—I’d rather you didn’t come any far¬ 
ther,” she said. 

Ganley handed her the basket, watching her 
closely. 

“I—I wish that you would go away, Mr. 
Ganley,” she said. “It is dangerous for you 
to remain in Cactusville.” 

“Matter of duty,” Ganley replied. “I took 
this job knowin’ all about it.” 

“They—no telling what they’ll do to you.” 

“I’m keeping my eyes open,” he said. “It 
was right nice of you to meet me on the trail 
and try to get me to go back, and I’m afraid 
that it might cause you trouble. If you are 
troubled by anybody, Miss Bangan, you just 
get word to me.” 

“I—you don’t understand,” she said. 

“Maybe I understand a lot,” Ganley said. 
“I reckon that you ain’t in sympathy with 


144 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


some of the goin’s-on in this town. And don’t 
let anybody bluff you, Miss Bangan.” 

He looked straight at her, as he spoke, and 
she turned her face away. 

“I don’t aim to ask you questions,” Ganley 
said. “But I’m just tellin’ you this—I’m here 
to make this gang of so-called bad men behave, 
and I’m goin’ to do it. And I’m goin’ to find 
out which one is The King and attend to him. ” 

“You—you’d better let things be,” she said. 

“Bein’ a deputy, I can’t,” he said. “If 
there’s anything that you want to tell me, Miss 
Bangan, you tell me, and I’ll see that you’re 
protected. But you don’t need to say any¬ 
thing you don’t want to say.” 

“I—I don’t dare tell you anything,” she 
said. 

“Oh, I reckon that means that you’ve been 
threatened. Miss Bangan, I reckon you don’t 
like Howger any too well.” 

“I hate him!” she gasped. 

“Then don’t you let him talk or act mean to 
you.” 

“You—you don’t understand.” 

“Perhaps I do understand a little,” Ganley 


LOVE’S FIRST FLUSH 145 
told her. “You ain’t afraid to trust me, are 
you?” 

She looked up at him quickly. 

“No,” she answered. 1 ‘I—you are different 
from the other men I have known. I don’t 
know how exactly, but you’re different. I’ve 
lived here since I was a little girl, and I hate 

it. But what can I do ? My uncle was- 

But I don’t dare talk of that!” 

“Uh-huh! Don’t say anything to me that 
you don’t want to say,” Ganley told her again. 
“But if anybody pesters you, you just let me 
know right away. You promise that?” 

“Yes,” she whispered. 

“I’m right eager to help you any time that 
you need help,” he said. 

“Th—thanks.” 

“And you don’t want to hesitate to ask me,” 
he continued. “It’s my job as a deputy, and 
I’ll be glad to do it on my own personal ac¬ 
count, too.” 

For a moment she looked him straight in 
the eyes, then her face flushed, and she went 
rapidly up the narrow path, carrying the 
basket to her aunt’s cottage Ganley looked 
after her. 


146 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


1 ‘ She’s a mighty nice girl, ’ ’ he muttered, and 
his tanned face took on a deeper hue for a 
moment. ‘ 4 If I find any of these snakes bother¬ 
in’ that girl-” 

He looked after her for a time and then 
turned and started slowly back along the 
street. He noticed that there was more hurry 
and bustle in the thoroughfare than there had 
been before. But one thing he did not notice— 
Stub Stibes watching him from a distance. 
Stibes had seen him walk along the street with 
Jessis Bangan and had witnessed their con¬ 
versation without being able to overhear their 
words. And now, with an expression of gloat¬ 
ing in his face, he hurried toward the Palace 
like a man eager to impart information. 



CHAPTER XII 



THE PRISONER 

S TIBES found Snake Howger, Crentz, 
and Bob Draige sitting at one of the 
tables in the rear of the Palace, Howger 
shuffling a deck of cards, and the other two 
talking of minor matters. They looked up, as 
Stibes approached, realizing from his manner 
that he carried important news. 

Stibes stepped close to the table and spoke 
in a low voice. “Ganley just walked down 
the street with Jessie Bangan,” he reported. 
“I watched ’em pretty close. They stopped 
at the foot of the path and talked for quite 
some time. Then the girl went on to the 
cottage.” 

Stibes then sat down and sank back in a 
chair and let the others digest the words he 
had spoken. Bob Draige and Crentz glanced 
at each other and then looked toward Howger, 
as though waiting for him to speak. Howger 

147 


148 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


riffled the deck again and finally tossed 
the cards to one side and looked up at the 
others. 

“I don’t like that,” he admitted. “I don’t 
like it at all. Did you hear what they said, 
Stibes?” 

“No, not a word. I couldn’t get close 
enough without them seein’ me,” Stibes an¬ 
swered. “But they sure were talkin’ mighty 
serious.” 

“That girl knows a lot, and we don’t want 
to forget it,” Crentz put in. “She could talk 
right interestin’ to certain folks if she felt 
like it. And this new deputy is a lot better 
man than the others were. The girl met him 
on the trail, as he came into the town, remem¬ 
ber. The thing looks queer!” 

“And Ganley was near at hand last night 
when I was talkin’ to Jessie,” Howger added, 
without going into the details of his adventure 
of the night before. 

“Well, we’d better do somethin’ about it and 
do it pronto!” Bob Draige was bold enough to 
say. “Are we just goin’ to sit still until this 
deputy pumps a lot of information out of her 
and maybe gets it into the hands of the sheriff ? 


THE PRISONER 149 

Tom Thomas might come over here with a 
posse and-” 

“I’ll attend to this all right!’’ Howger inter¬ 
rupted. 

“We’ll all attend to it,” Crentz declared, 
his eyes flashing suddenly. “If one of us is 
wrecked, then all of us are. This thing is going 
too far to suit me. We can’t afford to be takin’ 
chances. We’ve got to keep the deputy away 
from that girl, Snake! There’s no tellin’ how 
much she has said to him already.” 

“She’s too scared for herself and her aunt 
to tell him anything, ’ ’ Howger declared. ‘ ‘ She 
hasn’t talked.” 

“Teh? Maybe not; but maybe this deputy 
is a clever man, ’ ’ Crentz said. “ If he happens 
to guess that she knows anything he may keep 
at her until she tells him all that she knows. 
We don’t want that, do we? I don’t like the 
looks of it all. If Mrs. Bangan, Nick’s widow, 
can’t handle that girl, then we’d better handle 
her ourselves!” 

Snake Howger looked up angrily, but he 
curbed his anger before he spoke. He realized 
that Crentz was talking common sense, and 


150 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


lie did not wish to antagonize Crentz or any 
of the others. The gang stood or fell together. 
It could not allow a slip of a girl to wreck it. 
It was the time to take some measures for self¬ 
protection, and Howger knew it. 

“Anything to suggest?” he asked. 

“About the deputy or the girl?” Stibes 
wanted to know. 

“Wefil consider the case of the girl first,” 
Howger told them. ‘‘We’ve already planned 
some interestin’ things for the deputy. And 
there’s no sense in harmin’ the girl. All that 
we need to do is to keep her away from Ganley 
for the present. Later we won’t have to worry 
about it.” 

There seemed to be some special significance 
in his last sentence, and the others grinned. 

“If the deputy goes to prowlin’ around the 
Bangan cottage, Mrs. Bangan will soon enough 
give him his mar chin’ orders,” Howger con¬ 
tinued. “But Jessie may meet him again some 
place from the cottage, and that is what we 
must prevent.” 

“You bet that is what we must prevent, 1 ” 
Crentz said. “We’d better commence to be 
careful. I’ve got an idea that it won’t pay us 


THE PRISONER 151 

much to grow careless with this man, Ganley, 
around.” 

“Well?” Howger questioned, still waiting 
for one of the others to make some sugges¬ 
tion. 

“How about that shack at the abandoned 
Gold King mine?” Stibes asked. “We could 
put her in there and keep her there until things 
are settled. We could leave a couple of the 
boys on guard to see that she had stuff to eat 
and all that. It wouldn’t hurt the girl a bit, 
and it might save us a lot of trouble.” 

“It’s a good idea,” Howger admitted. “We 
can do it this evenin’, just as soon as it grows 
dark. We won’t try it by daylight. We ’ll see 
that she stays in the cottage the remainder of 
the day, and when it is dark some of us will 
take her to the shack at the mine and lock her 
in it. There is good water up there, and we 
can supply the grub, and we don’t want 
Deputy Sheriff Ganley to know where she has 
been taken.” 

“You can bet we don’t!” Crentz grumbled, 
sullenly. 

And so a few minutes later Stub Stibes car¬ 
ried a note from Howger to Mrs. Bangan, in 


152 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

which Howger asked the widow to keep her 
niece in the cottage until evening, at which 
time he would call on a little matter of busi¬ 
ness. 

Mrs. Bangan, who cared nothing for her 
niece beyond the fact that she did the house¬ 
work and ran errands, sensed that there was 
something wrong. She made the girl’s life a 
Hades for the remainder of the day. And so, 
when the door opened an hour after nightfall, 
and Howger entered the cottage, Jessie Ban¬ 
gan’s nerves were on edge, and she was at the 
point of shrieking for the world to hear. Mrs. 
Bangan was as polite as usual to her guest, 
but she knew immediately from Howger’s 
manner that something had happened. How¬ 
ger merely bowed to the girl and addressed 
himself to the widow. 

“I’m as anxious as ever to marry Jessie,” 
Howger said, “but I reckon we can wait a little 
for the ceremony. There are some other things 
that claim my attention.” 

“Yes, it is almost pay day,” Jessie snapped 
back. 

Howger’s eyes glowed. “ You ’re a wild one, 
but wild ones have been tamed before now,” 


THE PRISONER 153 

he said. “And I’m beyond the point where 
hard words can hurt me.” 

He turned from the girl and faced the widow 
again. ‘ ‘ This morning,’ 9 he said, * ‘ Jessie went 
down town for you, didn’t she ?’ ’ 

“Yes.” 

“And she met the new deputy sheriff, and 
he walked the length of the street with her, and 
they talked for quite some time at the bottom 
of the path.” 

“Jessie!” Mrs. Bangan screeched. 

“Well, what of it?” the girl asked. 

“Just this,” said Howger. “We’ve got to 
protect ourselves. And we don’t intend to be 
ruined because some girl takes a fancy to a 
new deputy sheriff.” 

Jessie’s face flamed red, but whether from 
embarrassment or anger, Howger could not 
decide. 

“Jessie, I don’t want you ever to speak to 
that man again!” her aunt said. 

“What did you tell him this morning?” 
Howger asked. 

“Nothing.” 

“You expect me to believe that?” 


154 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


“Believe it or not—it is the truth,” the girl 
replied, defiance in her manner. 

“Well, we cannot afford to take chances,” 
Howger went on. “Just for the time being, 
we must make sure that you do not talk to 
Ganley again. And so we have decided to 
take you away to-night and put you where 
he cannot find you.” 

The girl looked at him wild-eyed. “You 
dare lay a hand on me-” she began. 

“You’ll not be harmed,” Howger told her. 
“I give you my word as to that.” 

“Your word!” she cried, deep scorn in her 
voice. 

Mrs. Bangan exhibited slight symptoms of 
alarm. “Where are you going to take her, 
Snake?” she asked. 

“To the shack at the abandoned Gold King 
mine, ’ ’ Howger replied. 4 ‘ She ’ll be safe there. 
Plenty of water, and we sent up grub and 
blankets this afternoon. A couple of the men 
will guard her. She’ll be all right.” 

“You dare-” 

“It is necessary, my dear,” Howger said. 
“We can’t have you gettin’ on good terms with 




THE PRISONER 


155 


a deputy sheriff, you know. It is your own 
fault. Of course, if you’d rather marry me 
to-night-” 

“I’ll never marry you!” 

“We’ll see about that later. She’ll be all 
right, Mrs. Bangan. But nobody must know 
where she is. You’ll have to tell some story to 
the neighbors.” 

*‘How long-” Mrs. Bangan began. 

“Not more than a couple of days and 
nights,” Howger said. “By that time some¬ 
thing may happen to the deputy. She can take 
along a couple of books to read.” 

“You dare do this thing-” the girl began 

again. 

“We can’t be stopped now, Jessie,” Howger 
told her. “What do you care? You won’t 
suffer any harm. You’ll have the whole shack 
to yourself. The two men will guard the out¬ 
side, and you’ll have plenty to eat. You can 
spend the time thinking of me.” 

He laughed harshly and turned to the aunt 
again. She hesitated a moment and then: 

“I don’t exactly like the idea, Snake,” she 
said. 


156 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


“No harm can come to the girl,” he told her 
again. “And I’d hate to think, Mrs. Bangan, 
that Nick Bangan’s widow would turn against 
his old friends at a time like this. Surely you 
can see that it is necessary. And I hate to 
remind you that the boys have been pretty 
good to you.” 

After that gentle hint on the part of Howger, 
Mrs. Bangan hesitated no longer. Either the 
gang supported her, else she began taking in 
washing. And she did not care to enter into 
competition with the town’s Chinese laundry- 
man. 

“All right,” she said. “But you’ll see that 
she is protected and is kept safe.” 

“Think a lot of her all of a sudden?” How¬ 
ger sneered. 

He turned to face the girl once more and 
found that she had moved swiftly and silently 
across the room until she was between him 
and the door. 

“You’ll not do it!” she cried. “I’ll run 
down into the town! I’ll shriek for help! 
You’ll drive me too far and then—then I’ll 
tell the deputy everything!” 

Howger lurched toward her. She whirled 


THE PRISONER 


157 


away from him and grasped the knob of the 
door, jerked the door open, and turned swiftly 
to run from the house. And she ran into the 
arms of Rob Draige, Stibes, and another man 
Howger had waiting. 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE RESCUE 


HE mind of Charlie Rennis, keeper of 



the Cactusville hotel, was a battle¬ 


ground whereon his better self often 
had fought his weaker self, and his weaker self 
always had conquered. Rennis now found 
himself at an age where he began to realize 
that he had made many wrong steps in his life, 
and they had profited him little. Though not 
one of the Cactusville gang, he was a sort of 
auxiliary member. He countenanced their 
actions, had knowledge of them, grunted, and 
turned away. 

But upon this day “Snake” Howger had 
pushed Charlie Rennis off the sun-blistered 
and warped plank sidewalk in front of Charlie 
Remus’ own hotel, and Bob Draige had 
laughed at his protests. It was too much. 

Rennis went to the hotel office and took from 
the battered safe a bottle of rare old liquor. 


158 


THE RESCUE 


159 


He drank deeply and became full of courage. 
He drank more and became the friend of the 
oppressed. He wandered around the town, 
sat for a time in the Palace, and he heard 
some things. 

After the evening meal Charlie Rennis fared 
forth again to mingle with the throng on the 
street and in the resorts, wandering like a lost 
soul. He overheard more things. And then 
he went back to his hotel, called his Chinese 
cook, whispered to him, and sent him outside. 
And so Dick Ganley, emerging from the 
Palace and walking slowly up the street 
toward the hotel, felt somebody pluck at his 
sleeve and looked down to find the inscrutable 
Chinese cook at his side, but looking in another 
direction. 

i i Misser Rennis say you come lite away. He 
got somet’ing tell you. You be allsame careful 
and watch me.” 

Ganley grunted in reply and looked in 
the other direction himself. He did not 
know whether this was a trick or not, and he 
was on guard. He decided to find out the 
truth. 

So he followed the Chinaman at a distance, 


160 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


followed him along the street to a dark place 
near Jones’ livery stable, turned back of the 
buildings, and plunged into the darkness. 
Ganley’s right hand rested on the butt of his 
six-gun. 

This was no attempt at assassination, how¬ 
ever. The Chinese cook took him into the 
hotel through the rear entrance, up the rear 
stairs and along the hall to a door of a 
room. 

“In there,” the Celestial said, and then he 
turned and hurried away noiselessly. 

Dick Ganley drew his revolver out of its 
holster and tapped on the door. 

“Come in!” a voice commanded. 

Ganley kicked the door open, standing back 
in the shadows of the semi-lighted hallway. 
But there was no fusillade from the interior 
of the room, as Ganley had half expected. He 
saw an ordinary room, with a kerosene lamp 
burning on the table, the lamp being turned 
low. Charlie Rennis was sitting beside the 
table. 

“Come in and shut the door,” Rennis 
said. 

Ganley stepped inside, but he did not shut 


THE RESCUE 161 

the door until he was sure that Rennis was 
alone in the room, and that there was no other 
door opening into a room adjoining. The door 
closed, he returned his six-gun to its holster 
and walked forward. 

6 ‘What’s the idea?” he asked. 

“Sit down,” Charlie Rennis commanded. 
“I’ve got to talk in a low voice. There’s some¬ 
thin ’ that I reckon you should know. I’m 
goin’ to tell you, but if they ever find out that 
I did--” 

Mr. Rennis did not explain what would 
happen to him in such event, but he threw 
wide his hands in a gesture that was meant to 
indicate that it would be something terrible. 
Ganley sat down. 

“I’ve stood for this gang of bad men for 
years,” Rennis told the new deputy. “They 
haven’t bothered me much, and I believe in 
livin’ and lettin’ live. But I reckon there’s 
an end to everything. And when they start 
persecutin’ women-” 

“Women!” Ganley gasped. 

“Hush! Be mighty careful how you talk,” 
Rennis cautioned. “I was fussin’ around town 
this evenin’, and I overheard some things. I 



162 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 

reckon they talked around me because they 
thought I wouldn’t tell on ’em.” 

“Come to the point!” Ganley commanded. 

“They saw you talkin’ to Jessie Bangan 
this mornin ’, ’ ’ Rennis said. ‘ ‘ That scared ’em. 
They’re afraid that Jessie might tell you all 
she knows, and I reckon she knows enough 
to put the halter on all of ’em.” 

“How’s that?” 

“Nick Bangan, her uncle, used to be the 
boss of the gang, ’ ’ Rennis replied. ‘ ‘ That poor 
girl has been raised by her uncle and aunt, but 
she’s honest and decent. She hates murder 
and robbery, I reckon. The gang’s afraid that 
she’s too honest.” 

“Well?” Ganley asked, as Rennis hesitated. 

“Well, sir, they thought as how she might 
be tellin’ you more than they wanted you to 
know. So they decided to fix it so she couldn’t 
talk to you again. They went to the cottage 
to-night and got her, and they took her 
away.” 

“Where?” 

“The Gold King mine is a mile out the west 
road—it was abandoned years ago. There’s a 
good shack there. They took her to the shack 


163 


THE RESCUE 

and left a couple of scoundrels to guard her 
and see she didn’t escape. Oh, they won’t hurt 
her any, ’cause Snake Howger thinks he wants 
to marry her some day, if she ever makes up 
her mind to it. But it’s no way to treat a 
girl.” 

“And why have you told me about it?” 
Ganley asked. 

“My good gosh! You’re a deputy, and 
you’re supposed to keep folks from abductin’ 
women, ain’t you? And she’s in trouble be¬ 
cause she talked to you.” 

“Uh-huh!” Ganley grunted. 

“And if she wanted to talk some more she 
could tell some mighty interestin’ facts, I 
reckon,” Charlie Rennis added craftily. “And 
that’s no place to put a girl. They won’t harm 
her, but she’ll be about scared to death, I 
reckon.” 

Ganley got up from the chair in which he 
had been sitting. “A mile out the west road ?” 
he asked. 

“Yeh,” said Charlie Rennis. “It’s on the 
north side of the road. You can see the shack 
by starlight. It’s up on the top of a hill. Two 
men guardin’ it, I heard ’em tell. Just two 


164 


THE BANGERS’ CODE 


ordinary critters that belong to the gang, not 
top notchers like Bob Draige or Howger or 
Stibes.” 

“Thanks,” the deputy said. 

“I’m takin’ my life inter my own hands 
tellin’ you this,” Charlie Rennis whined. 
“And if you’re a proper gent you won’t ever 
say who told you.” 

“Then I’m a proper gent,” Ganley replied, 
grinning. “But I might say this to you, Ren¬ 
nis—if you’re playin’ some game for the gang, 
tryin’ to send me into a trap, I’ll get out of the 
trap and come back here and naturally shoot 
you away, a couple of square inches at a time!” 

“I—I’ve told you the truth!” 

“All right then.” 

“You go down the back stairs the way you 
came,” Rennis begged. “It’s as much as my 
life is worth if they get on to me.” 

Dick Ganley opened the door, peered into 
the hall to find that it was empty, and slipped 
from the room. A few minutes later he was 
in the darkness behind the hotel. He slipped 
around the stable and continued to the edge of 
the town, and there he turned into the west 
road, as Charlie Rennis had directed. He had 


165 


THE RESCUE 

decided against taking Ms horse, since the 
distance was only a mile. There was no imme¬ 
diate prospect of harm for Jessie Bangan, he 
thought. 

He realized that the girl probably found 
herself in this predicament because she had 
tried to get him to leave Cactusville. He felt 
that it was his duty to rescue her. But that 
did not cause him to lessen his caution, as he 
went slowly along the road. 

The moon had not come up, but the stars 
were bright, and Ganley could distinguish 
objects along the road. It was a fair road used 
by heavy ore wagons from the mines, and he 
walked swiftly after a time, but always to one 
side, where he could dodge into Mding if occa¬ 
sion demanded it. 

Now and then he stopped to listen, but heard 
no sound to cause him alarm. He began losing 
all fear of Charlie Rennis acting with the 
Cactusville gang. Rennis, he supposed, had 
told the news because he liked J essie 
Bangan. 

And Dick Ganley found Mmself liking her 
more than he had expected. To think of her 
in association with Snake Howger made him 


166 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


furious. This forcible detention of the girl 
was something else to mark up against the 
gang. He knew after a time that he must be 
near the abandoned mine, so he doubled his 
caution. Almost silently he made his way 
along the road, listening intently, keeping 
whenever possible in the deep shadows cast by 
overhanging ledges and big boulders. 

Finally in the distance he saw the shack 
outlined against the sky. There was no light 
in it, and he did not expect to find one, since a 
light there might attract attention. But for 
an instant Ganley saw a horse in silhouette 
against the star glare on the crest of the 
hill. 

Ganley left the road and circled a knoll, 
approaching the shack from an opposite direc¬ 
tion. He crawled from rock to rock, from 
shadow to shadow, listening to every sound, 
ready for instant action if it was forced upon 
him. He caught the sound of muttered voices 
when he was still some distance from the shack, 
and for a time he remained, crouched behind a 
rock, listening, straining his eyes to "see. 
Presently he made out two horses tethered a 
short distance from the shack, two men squat- 


THE RESCUE 167 

ting on the ground, their blankets around their 
shoulders. 

A match was struck, a cigarette ignited. 
By the quick flare of the match Ganley located 
his two men. He crept nearer the shack and 
again stopped to listen and watch. And after 
a time he became fully convinced that there 
were but the two men. The shack itself was 
dark, and no sound came from it. Ganley 
could hear their voices easily now. 

44 Tough job, this,” one of them was say¬ 
ing. “Howger said not to build a fire. 
^Wish he had to sit out here all night without 
a fire. That wind from the hills is gettin’ 
cold.” 

44 The girl’s a mad one,” the other said. 
4 4 She’ll scratch Howger’s eyes for this, if she 
ever gets the chance.” 

44 She won’t be kept here long—only until 
we get rid of that deputy,” the other 
replied. 

One of the two got up from the ground and 
started to walk slowly around the shack, evi¬ 
dently on what he fondly hoped was a tour of 
inspection. Ganley saw that he would pass a 
few feet from him, and that he would be sepa- 


168 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


rated from the other by quite a distance. 
Ganley took his six-gun out quickly, turned it 
in his hand, and held it ready to strike with 
the butt. The guard came nearer. Crouching, 
Ganley held himself ready. The time came, 
and he sprang—and struck! There was a 
groan, the sound of a body falling. The other 
man sprang to his feet. 

“Hey, Burt!” he called. 

There came no answer. The other guard 
rushed around the corner of the shack, weapon 
held ready. But he had no chance to use it. 
Once more there was the sound of a heavy 
blow, a groan, the noise of a body falling on 
the loose gravel. Ganley stepped back. 

“Both will be dead to the world for a few 
minutes , 9 9 he grunted to himself. 6 6 That’s the 
stuff—no noise to attract attention.” He ran 
quickly to the door of the shack and knocked 
upon it softly. “Miss Bangan!” he called. 

An immediate answer told him that the girl 
had not been asleep; that, half terrified, afraid 
of her guards and the shack and the dark, she 
had been waiting for the passing of the long 
night. 

“What is it?” she called. 


THE RESCUE 169 

44 This is Ganley! I’ve taken care of your 
two guards. Can you open the door V 9 
“Yes.” 

“Open it, and we’ll get away from here!” 
he said. 


/ 


CHAPTER XIY 


A NIGHT IN JAIL 

S HE opened the door immediately and 
stumbled out, and he threw up an arm 
to stop her. 

i i Where are they ? ’ * she gasped. 6 6 There are 
two of them.” 

“I tapped them gently on their heads, and 
they’ll be asleep for a few minutes,” G-anley 
replied. “But I reckon that we’d better put 
them in the shack and tie ’em up. We don’t 
want ’em givin’ the alarm before I can get 
you to some safe place. You just stand to one 
side, Miss Bangan, and let me ’tend to this.” 

He rushed to his two victims, saw that they 
both were unconscious still, and one by one he 
carried them into the shack. Then he searched 
near the wall outside until he found their sad¬ 
dles, and from one he took a rope. With the 
rope he lashed both men, tied them together, 

170 


A NIGHT IN JAIL 


171 


then took the rope from the other saddle and 
fastened his prisoners to a bunk in one corner 
of the shack. 

“Hate to gag ’em, but I reckon that I’d 
better,” Ganley said. “They might make 
somebody on the road hear ’em.” 

He gagged them with strips of a saddle 
blanket, made sure that the bonds were certain, 
waited until he could tell that both men had 
returned to consciousness, and then backed 
toward the door. 

“Let this be a lesson to you two jaspers,” 
he said, in a voice that did not resemble his 
own, “You’re lucky that I ain’t feelin’ mad 
this evenin’.” 

Then he closed the door and turned to the 
girl again. 

“Can you walk?” he asked. 

“Yes.” 

“We’d better walk, then. If we take their 
horses, somebody is sure to recognize ’em. 
And it’s my aim for ’em not to know you’re 
gone until mornin’, when they send men to 
relieve them two guards. I’ll help you down 
the hill.” 

She offered not a word of explanation, as 


172 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

he aided her across the rough ground and down 
toward the road. It was as though she had 
expected this rescue, as though there was 
nothing unusual in it at all. And in time they 
came to the dusty road and sat down on some 
rocks to rest. 

“I reckon you’ve been through an ordeal,” 
Ganley said. “I got wind of what had hap¬ 
pened and hurried up to get you loose. Just 
what did happen?” 

“I—I don’t want to talk about it,” she 
said. 

“Not even after they’ve treated you this 
way?” Ganley asked in some surprise. 

“No.” 

‘ ‘ Well, I won’t urge you, ’ ’ he told her. “ I ’ve 
got an idea, of course. It was because you 
were seen talkin’ to me, I reckon. They were 
afraid—some men were—that you might tell 
me somethin’ that would get ’em into trouble. 
Did they bother your aunt?” 

“No.” 

“Then she’ll be worried sick, I reckon, if 
she goes home and finds you gone.” 

“She—she was there when it happened.” 

“She was?” 


A NIGHT IN JAIL 


173 


“Yes, she let them do it.” 

“Let who do it?” 

‘ i I—I ain ’t sayin’ ’ she said. 6 ‘ And I won’t 
ever go to my aunt’s house again—not ever! 
I can’t stand it! There—there are reasons.” 

“Don’t tell me unless you want to,” he said. 

“I—I dare not.” 

“All right, don’t do it if you’re afraid,” 
Ganley told her. “So you don’t want to go 
home again?” 

“It’s not home. I’ve never had a home—a 
real home. I was raised here, of course, but 
it isn’t what I call home. I’ll work my fingers 
to the bone before I’ll live with my aunt again. 
I’ll kill myself if I have to do it.” There was 
reckless determination in the girl’s voice as 
she made this threat. 

“I reckon you won’t have to do that,” Gan¬ 
ley said. “Miss Bangan, you just forget every¬ 
thing for a time except that I’m an officer of 
the law. So it’s my duty to help you. Now 
you come right along with me.” 

“Where?” 

“You’ll see when we get there. I’ll put you 
in a safe place where you won’t have to worry, 
and where you’ll be comfortable. They won’t 


174 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


find you. And then, as soon as I can, I’ll get 
you to Goldland. A girl like you’s got the 
right to live her own life and be happy.” 

“I could work.” 

“I reckon! Don’t you worry at all. Just 
let me tend to everything. ’ ’ 

“Why should you take so much trouble for 
me?” she asked. 

“It—it’s my duty as an officer of the law, 
you see,” he told her, “and then I like you a 
heap! Come on, now! Let’s get goin’ to 
town!” 

He led the way along the dusty road, going 
slowly, walking beside her and helping her 
over the rough places. She never had had a 
man help her before, or show kindness to her. 
She had a feeling that she could trust the man 
beside her. But she feared for him. 

Always the Cactusville men had defeated 
the deputies. It seemed impossible for a man 
of the law to come there and work his will on 
them. But she found herself hoping that this 
one would. She felt that she wanted to tell 
him what she knew, but she was afraid. After 
all, he was a man to fight other men. It was 
not a woman’s affair. 


A NIGHT IN JAIL 


175 


They went slowly until they could see the 
lights of the town in the distance. Once they 
crouched behind a clump of brush, while two 
men rode past them, men coming into the town 
from some distant ranch. Ganley avoided the 
end of the street and led her around the corral 
and livery stable. 

“Where are you taking mef’ she whispered. 

“To the hotel.” 

“ Oh! They ’ll be sure to find me there. Get 
me a horse and let me ride away. I could get 
to Goldiand.” 

“It’s a tough trip for a girl to make alone,” 
he said. “And they’d think you’d done that, 
and they would send men to catch you. I’ve 
got a room in the hotel, and I’ll get you into it 
without anybody seein’ us. You can stay there 
until I get a chance to get you out of town.” 

“But somebody will see me,” she protested, 
fear in her voice again. 

“My room in the hotel is the last place they’d 
look for you,” Ganley told her. “They don’t 
know that I’m the man who rescued you, and,, 
if they did know it, they’d think that I’d never 
take you to the hotel. I’ll get you in the room, 
and I’ll sleep in the jail. I’ll show myself 


176 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


around town, so they 11 think I haven’t been 
out near the shack. Your meals will be sent 
up.” 

6 ‘ By Mr. Rennis ? He’d tell them, sure. ’’ 

“He’ll not tell ’em!” Ganley replied grimly. 
“I can handle Mr. Charlie Rennis. You just 
come along and leave everything to me.” 

She did not protest again. And how he took 
her by the hand and led her slowly through the 
darkness behind the buildings. He came to 
the little rear door through which the Chinese 
cook had taken him, and they entered. Up 
the stairs they went and to the room. They 
slipped inside. 

“Maybe you’d better not light the lamp,” 
Ganley whispered. “When I go out, you lock 
the door on the inside and prop the top of a 
chair under the knob, too. Then you go to 
bed and sleep—and don’t worry or be afraid. 
I’ll see you as soon as I can—some time to¬ 
morrow.” 

“But you?” she questioned. 

“I’ll fuss around town until things quiet 
down along toward mornin’, and then I’ll sleep 
in the jail. There’s blankets in the jail. Don’t 
worry, Miss Bangan, Good night!” 


A NIGHT IN JAIL 177 

She grasped his hand impulsively. ‘ ‘ You ’re 
awfully good to me,” she said. 

“Why not?” Ganley asked her bluntly. 
“You’re a mighty fine girl. Good night!” 

He slipped down the rear stairs, got to the 
street some distance away, and walked openly 
and deliberately back to the hotel. Entering 
the front he strolled around the lobby and 
finally got Charlie Rennis in a corner for a 
little conversation. 

“I rescued the girl,” Ganley whispered. 

“My good gosh! Be careful about talkin’ 
here!” 

“It’s all right. Pay attention, Rennis. I 
got her away from the shack.” 

“What did you do with her?” 

“She is up in my room.” 

Charlie Rennis almost had a stroke. After 
a moment of terror he whispered hoarsely. 

“You get her out of there!” he said. 

“She’s goin’ to stay there, Rennis, for the 
time bein’,” Ganley said. “I’ll be elsewhere, 
understand? She’ll be safe there. Nobody 
will think of looking there for her. Keep 
everybody out of that room. Smuggle her 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


178 

some breakfast when you’ve got the chance.” 

“I—I dassen’t. You get her out.” 

c ‘ You’ve got to do it, Rennis. There is no 
danger at all. If they should happen to find 
her there, you can say that you didn’t know it. 
But nobody knows she is there, Rennis, except 
you and me and the girl. And so, if she is 
found, and it’s your fault-” 

“My good gosh!” 

“I’ll simply let everybody know, Rennis, 
that you told me about the way she was ab¬ 
ducted. And you know what ’ll happen then! ’ ’ 

“They’d kill me!” 

“Then, Rennis, here is your chance to hook 
up with law and order and be decent,” Ganley 
told him. “It’s the only safe way for you. 
They don’t even know that I’m the man who 
rescued her. I smashed the guards on their 
heads, and they didn’t get a chance to see me. 
If you play your part of the game right, there 
is no danger.” 

Charlie Rennis digested that for a moment, 
and when he raised his head there was a new 
determination in his manner, though traces 
of fear remained in his face. 

“I’m with you, deputy!” he said. “I’ll see 


179 


A NIGHT IN JAIL 

that she gets grub. And you watch out for 
yourself! The gang’s about ready to jump 
you, I reckon.” 

Dick Ganley rolled and lighted a cigarette, 
feeling that he needed one after the night’s 
adventure. He slapped Reruns on his back 
and laughed at him, as though they had been 
talking of ordinary things. And then, still 
chuckling to himself, as though at a good joke, 
he strolled from the hotel and went down the 
street again. 

Deputy Sheriff Ganley made the rounds of 
the various resorts, including the Palace. He 
knew that Snake Howger and Stibes and 
Crentz and Draige had seen him. He was 
alert always, expecting everything, but the 
gang made no attempt to touch him. 

Again, an hour before dawn, he strolled to¬ 
ward the hotel. Cactusville had endured the 
usual hectic evening and was tired. Only a 
few stragglers remained here and there. Gan¬ 
ley knew that Howger had gone to the little 
cottage where he lived alone with a Chinese 
to do the work. Stibes and Draige were not 
to be seen. Crentz had turned the Palace over 


180 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


to the night crew and would he seen no more 
until about noon. 

Yet Ganley played the game. He paused a 
moment in the hotel office, yawned, and 
tramped up the rickety stairs. A few minutes 
later he slipped down the rear stairs and out 
of the building again. Once more he hurried 
through the darkness, this time toward the 
jail. He took a key from his pocket and un¬ 
locked the new lock. He entered and closed 
the door, got a couple of the blankets, and 
made up the bunk in the cell. A few minutes 
later he was preparing to get a short sleep. 

“Deputy sheriff puttin’ himself in jail!” 
he muttered. “That’s what a woman can do 
to a man. My good gosh!” 


CHAPTER XV 


MYRTLE COMES TO TOWN 

B EFORE the important members of the 
gang were abroad, Ganley was awake 
and out of the jail. He walked slowly 
up the street, ate breakfast at the hotel, held 
a whispered conversation with Charlie Ren- 
nis, and then sat in the hotel office, watching 
the crowd in the street outside. He was in¬ 
formed by Rennis half an hour later that Miss 
Bangan had enjoyed a good night’s rest and 
had partaken of a hearty breakfast. But Char¬ 
lie Rennis was nervous about it. 

“You’d better get that girl out of here,” he 
said. 

“Safest place in the town,” Ganley told 
him firmly. “And if anybody asks you, you 
haven’t seen her. You’d better remember 
that, Mr. Rennis. Are you with me or agin’ 
me?” 


181 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


182 

“I’ve got to be with you now,” Charlie 
Rennis replied. ‘ 4 But you’d better watch your¬ 
self, Ganley. Them hombres are up to some¬ 
thin,’ sure as shootin’. If I get wind of any¬ 
thing, I’ll let you know. But they’ll be mighty 
careful, if they’ve got any plans concernin’ 
you, and they won’t go to shoutin’ them around 
the town.” 

It was shortly after this conversation that 
Dick Ganley walked out of the hotel just in 
time to see a horseman dash through the street 
and stop before the Palace. Ganley knew that 
the horseman had come from the abandoned 
Gold King mine, and that within a few min¬ 
utes Howger and his associates would know 
that Jessie Bangan had been rescued the night 
before and her guards overpowered and left be¬ 
hind, bound and gagged. 

He walked on down the street and deliber¬ 
ately turned into the Palace after a time, step¬ 
ping up to the bar and ordering a bottle of 
sarsaparilla and watching the big room care¬ 
fully in the mirror of the back bar. 

Snake Howger was at the table in the rear 
of the room with Crentz and Stibes. Bob 
Draige did not happen to be present. The man 


MYRTLE COMES TO TOWN 183 


who had ridden down the street was talking 
to the three men at the table. Ganley saw them 
glance in his direction, and saw them arguing 
together, and Howger shaking his head at 
something Crentz had said. The deputy sher¬ 
iff felt like grinning, but he did not. He paid 
for his sarsaparilla, exchanged sarcastic re¬ 
marks with the man behind the bar, and went 
forth upon the street again. 

“It was Ganley!” Howger was saying to 
the others. 

“One of the men has seen Ganley and heard 
him talk, and he says that it wasn’t Ganley’s 
voice!” 

“Who else would do it?” Howger de¬ 
manded. 

“How do I know? Who knew the girl was 
there?” 

“Only half a dozen of the gang,” Howger 
responded. “And Mrs. Bangan hasn’t left 
the cottage since we took the girl away, and 
nobody has been there to visit her. I’ve had 
a man watchin’.” 

“Then how could the deputy know that the 
girl was at the shack?” Crentz demanded. 

“That’s somethin’ that we’d better find 


184: 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


out,” Howger said. “It seems peculiar, but 
I’m ready to bet that Ganley is the man who 
got the girl out.” J 

“We know that he didn’t use his horse last 
night,” Stibes put in. “He was prowlin’ 
around town all night, too, and he was out 
bright and early this mornin’. I saw him at 
the hotel and he was just in here.” 

“He might have done it, though,” Howger 
protested. 

“If he did, what did he do with the girl?” 
Stibes demanded. “He hasn’t had time to 
get her out of town.” 

“She could have gone alone,” said Crentz. 

“Nobody got a horse from Jones.” 

“ There are twenty or thirty cow ponies in 
the corral, and we’d have to check ’em all up 
to see if one is missin’,” Howger told them. 
“Ganley might have rescued her, caught up a 
cow pony, and sent the girl along the road to 
Goldland. I’ll have a couple of men go that 
way. They’ll catch her if she rode toward 
the county seat. They can see the road for 
miles after they get to the summit of the 
range.” 

Stibes hurried away to locate two men and 


MYETLE COMES TO TOWN 185 


send them on the trip. Snake Howger was 
silent for a time and then bent closer to Crentz.. 

“The boys will commence driftin' into town 
this afternoon," he said. 

“Yeh," Crentz replied, “and we want to he 
ready for 'em." 

“We've got to do the thing up brown this 
time," Howger declared. “We've got to 
discredit this deputy. We'll carry out the 
plans we have made, and, after we have 
trimmed these suckers from the mines and the 
range, we'll frame up a scrap between the 
deputy and some outsider and see what 
happens." 

“The deputy probably will plug the out¬ 
sider," Crentz said. 

“Maybe so, but we don’t care. And when 
shootin' once starts, anything is liable to hap¬ 
pen. We can turn Bob Draige loose." 

“Draige?" Crentz said, half sneering. 
“That deputy's got his sign carved on Draige's 
skin. Bob talks big, but I’m ready and willin’ 
to bet right here and now that, if they faced 
each other, Granley would make Bob Draige 
back down without firin' a shot or dr awin' a 
gun." 


186 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

* 4 Which is one and the same thing with Gan- 
ley,” Howger said. “I know his breed. When 
he draws a gun, it’s to shoot! We’ve got to 
act quick when we do get him, and it’s got 
to look so good that the sheriff won’t have a 
comeback. An outsider has a quarrel. Gan- 
ley plugs him. Ganley gets plugged. It’s sup¬ 
posed that some friend of the outsider does 
it, and in the confusion nobody sees just who 
shoots. Understand ? ’ ’ 

“Yeh,” Crentz grunted. 4 4 That scheme al¬ 
ways works. But we’d better make some good 
plans this afternoon.” 

Shortly after the hour of noon strangers be¬ 
gan drifting into the town. Long, lean cow- 
punchers galloped in from every direction, 
laughing and shouting, to put their ponies in 
the corral and hurry to the bank to cash their 
pay checks. Short, squat, hard-working men 
from the mines up in the hills invaded Cactus- 
ville, searching for relaxation. 

Every hour saw more men arrive. The stores 
were doing a thriving business, for miners and 
punchers always make a few purchases religi¬ 
ously before starting to search for recreation. 
The resorts began filling. Gambling games 


MYRTLE COMES TO TOWN 187 


were opened. Illicit liquor was on sale. Tlie 
fever rose. 

Deputy Sheriff Ganley walked slowly up 
and down the street, talking to nohody, watch¬ 
ing these things. He had seen it often before 
in other localities. He had faced similar situ¬ 
ations in border towns when he had belonged 
to the rangers. And he remembered now what 
the rangers had taught him. He felt that he 
was a ranger again for the time being. As a 
ranger he could not back down before any 
man while in the performance of his duty. As 
a ranger he would die before he would surren¬ 
der his gun. As a ranger he could not make 
the first hostile move, hut must keep within 
the bounds of the law and whip out a weapon 
only after the other man had started to 
draw. 

“I’m only a sheriff’s deputy now, but I’ll 
make believe that I am a ranger,” Ganley told 
hims elf, and it seemed to give him added 
strength. 

He was alert, cautious, and avoided all 
controversies. He fully expected that an at¬ 
tempt would be made to draw him into a fight, 
and, while he attended to one man, another 


188 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

would get him. It was an old trick, and 
he had faced it before, but it was always dan¬ 
gerous. 

Late in the afternoon a group of riders came 
into town from the Goldland trail. There were 
half a dozen in the group, including two 
women. Standing on the crowded walk, Gan- 
ley saw them dismount before Jones’s stable. 
He gasped his surprise to see Myrtle Baines 
among them. 

He remembered that she had said she in¬ 
tended making a visit to Cactusville in a couple 
of weeks or so, and he guessed that she had 
come earlier because of a chance to ride in a 
congenial party. The other woman formerly 
had belonged to Cactusville, and her hus¬ 
band was with her. The remainder of the 
group were men coming to Cactusville on busi¬ 
ness. 

Gamey watched Myrtle Baines, as she hur¬ 
ried to the hotel, saw her shake hands with 
Charlie Rennis, and walked into the office of 
the hotel himself in time to overhear some 
of their conversation. 

“Wish you’d come back to work for me, 
Myrtle,” Charlie Rennis said. “I never did 


MYRTLE COMES TO TOWN 189 

have a girl as good as you in the dinin’ 
room.” 

“The town’s too rough,” Myrtle Baines re¬ 
plied, smiling at him. “It’s all right to come 
here for a visit, Charlie, but I don’t like the 
burg as a steady diet.” 

“What you doin’ here now?” 

“On a visit,” she answered. “Cot a chance 
to ride over with some folks, and we’re goin’ 
to stay three or four days. I’ll have to get 
a room here, I reckon.” 

“It won’t cost you a cent, Myrtle,” Ren- 
nis told her. “Room and meals free to you. 
But I wish you’d come back to work for 
me.” 

“I understand that you’ve got a new deputy 
sheriff,” the girl said. 

“Yeh! Here he comes now.” 

Myrtle Baines whirled around, her face 
gleaming, to find Dick Ganley within a few 
feet of her. 

“I’m sure glad to see you,” she said. “I 
didn’t get to see you much in Goldland after 
the dance.” 

“I was right busy,” Ganley complained. 


190 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


“How are you gettin’ along?” 

“I’m still here, Miss Baines,” the deputy 
said. 

“Have you met our—our friend?” 

“You mean Bob Draige? Nope! He’s kept 
out of my way since I came here. But I’ve 
met all his close friends, I reckon.” 

Sudden concern showed in her face, and she 
stepped closer to him. 

“Please he careful,” she warned. “You 
don’t know these men like I do. I worked 
here once, and I’ve seen them handlin’ 
men.” 

“Oh, I aim to be careful,” Ganley replied. 
“I hope that they have a dance while you’re 
here.” 

Myrtle Baines flushed with pleasure and 
turned toward the door. 

“I’ve got visits to make before supper,” she 
explained. “Maybe I’ll see you when we eat 
supper.” 

“Maybe,” Ganley agreed. 

She went out upon the street, hesitated a 
moment, and then turned down it, walking 
briskly. But she had not gone far before 
she heard a voice behind her. 


MYRTLE COMES TO TOWN 191 

“Hello, Myrtle!” 

She stopped and turned to come face to face 
with Bob Draige. She sensed in an instant 
that Draige was seething with anger. His 
lips were curled, and his eyes blazed. 

“Had to look up the deputy as soon as you 
got in town, didn’t you?” he said. 

“I didn’t look him up. He was in the hotel 
office,” the girl said. “Sure, I talked to him. 
What about it?” 

“Prefer him to a regular he man, do 
you.” 

“Call yourself a he man?” she snarled. 
“The deputy is one, and you don’t want to 
forget it. He’s a gent, he is! And I reckon 
that he put you in your place over in Gold- 
land.” 

“He ain’t in Goldland now,” Draige threat¬ 
ened. 

“No? He’s been here for a few days, and 
you haven’t touched him.” 

“I’ve had orders to keep my hands off him, 
that’s why. But he’ll be touched!” 

‘ ‘ Uh-huh! ’ ’ she said. “ You’d better be care¬ 
ful when you try it.” 

“You stay away from him!” 


192 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 

“You listen to me!” she said. “Who are 
you to give me orders ? What right have you 
got? I ain’t your girl. Just because I danced 
with you whenever you came to Goldland is no 
reason for you thinkin’ that you own me. And 
you’re a rotten dancer, too! You stay away 
from me, Mister Draige, or you’ll see fire¬ 
works.” 

“The deputy, huh?” 

“Not necessarily,” she replied. “I’ve got 
other friends.” 

Bob Draige lurched nearer her and spoke 
in lower tones. 

“I reckon you’re a fool, Myrtle,” he said. 
“A blind man could see that you’re about 
gone on this Ganley, and a lot he cares about 
you?” 

“Who said that he did?” 

“I ain’t blind. But you’ve got no chance 
with him—not while J essie Bangan is 
around.” 

“No? Jessie Bangan, huh? Well, she’s a 
nice girl.” 

“Yeh! The deputy’s been shinin’ up to her 
ever since he come to town. And she’s been 
taken care of, too. We didn’t care to have 


MYRTLE COMES TO TOWN 193 


her talkin’ to him too much. And we put her 
in the shack up at the Gold King. And 
last night somebody went up there and 
got her away, and she hasn’t been found. 
Ganley did it, and he’s hidin’ Jessie some¬ 
where.” 

“Well, it’s a good thing he got the girl out 
of your clutches,” Myrtle Baines replied. 
“But why tell me about it?” 

“So you don’t care? You ain’t jealous?” 

“Jealous? You’re a regular fool, Bob 
Draige! Mr. Ganley is nothin’ in my young 
life. He just danced with me a few times, 
and he sure is a good dancer. Nothin’ in that, 
is there? I don’t care how many girls he’s 
interested in. Now you take yourself off! I’ve 
got some visits to make.” 

She went on down the street, still smil¬ 
ing, nodding her head to friends here and 
there, speaking to one now and then. Her 
words to Bob Draige had sounded all right, 
but the proper spirit had not been behind 
them. 

For a surge of jealousy had gone through 
her, had astonished her. But Myrtle Baines 
was a sensible girl. Ganley, she reflected, 


194 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


never had said a thing to lead her to believe 
that his interest in her was above the ordinary. 
However, she had entertained hopes. And 
she was not going to bury them immediately 
because of a few words spoken by Bob 
Draige. 


CHAPTER XVI 


CAUGHT IN A TRAP 

G ANLEY felt like a marked man, as he 
• walked up and down the street for the 
remainder of the afternoon and 
watched cow-punchers and miners gathering 
from the range and the hills. Men seemed to 
avoid him because of the star he wore, and he 
expected nothing else. They did not want to 
grow friendly with a deputy sheriff who, they 
felt, might be deposed at any moment, and so 
face the vengeance of the Cactusville gang 
later. 

The bad men of Cactusville had not shown 
their hand yet. The gambling games were run¬ 
ning, and the resorts were filled, but everything 
seemed ordinary. Ganley understood it. They 
were waiting for the bulk of the pay-day 
crowd. By midnight the town would be filled 
with men, and then Howger and his associates 
might start their work. 

195 


196 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


Ganley was remembering again his three¬ 
fold purpose in Cactusville. He had to uphold 
the hands of the sheriff; he had to find the King 
of Cactusville, the man who remained in the 
dark and issued the orders; and he had to 
locate the murderer of Jack Mattoii. 

At the proper hour he returned to the hotel 
and entered the dining room, taking his seat 
at the table in the corner, at which no one else 
sat. Charlie Rennis was doing a thriving busi¬ 
ness this night, and the waiters were busy. 
Ganley ate as usual and then strolled into the 
office. He leaned against the battered counter 
and gave Rennis a chance to approach him. 

“Girl wants to see you,” Rennis whispered. 

“All right. Did you feed her ?” 

“Yes.” 

Rennis moved away. Ganley turned after 
a moment and walked across to the stairs and 
ascended them, every movement a natural one, 
merely a hotel guest going to his room. He 
was glad that there was nobody in the hall 
on the second floor. He tapped at the door. 

“It is Ganley,” he whispered. 

She opened the door instantly, and he 
slipped inside. 


CAUGHT IN A TRAP 


197 


“Everything been all right?” he asked. 

“Yes,” she replied. “Mr. Rennis brought 
me my meals and didn’t let anybody else come 
to the room. It’s been a bit lonesome.” 

“I’ll try to get you somethin’ to read.” 

“I’ve been watching the street,” she said, 
“but you can’t see it very good from the win¬ 
dow.” . 

“Better be careful about that window. 
Somebody may see you.” 

“How long must I stay here?” she asked. 

“Until it is safe for me to get you away,” 
Ganley told her. “The pay-day crowd is gath¬ 
erin’ now. I’ve got work to do here. As soon 
as things quiet down a bit I’ll get away and 
take you to Goldland.” 

“And after I get there?” 

“Oh, you don’t want to worry about that!” 
Ganley said. “My friend, the sheriff, will 
help you. Don’t you worry about anything 
at all.” 

“You’re awfully good to me!” 

“Why not?” Ganley asked, flushing. 

“I—I’m almost tempted to tell you some 
things that I know,” she said. “I’ve been try- 


198 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

ing to decide all day whether it would be 
right.” 

“Don’t worry about it. When you decide, 
you just let me know,” he said. 

“What have they done?” 

“Nothin’. I don’t know whether they sus¬ 
pect me or not, but maybe they do. They think 
you’ve started for Goldland, and they sent a 
couple of men to ride out and see. If you had 
gone, they’d have caught you before this.” 

“Sometimes I am afraid.” 

“Nothin’ to be afraid of,” Ganley told her. 
“You just stay here until you hear from me 
again. And I’ll get you somethin’ to read, 
to help pass the time. When there’s any news, 
I’ll let you know.” 

He started to the door, but she reached out 
and touched his arm. 

“I—I don’t know how to thank you,” she 
said. “You’re not like the men here in Cac- 
tusville.” 

“I should hope not!” Ganley said, grin¬ 
ning. “And you don’t need to thank me. It’s 
my duty.” 

“Only your duty?” she asked, her face flam¬ 
ing. 


CAUGHT IN A TRAP 199 

“ You go to talkin’ that way and lookin’ like 
that and I may forget my duty,” he said. 
“That’d never do.” 

He left her and walked down the stairs 
again. He wondered whether he was falling 
in love. He blushed at the mere thought of 
it and felt like kicking himself. Down in the 
hotel office he had speech with Charlie Rennis 
again. 

“You keep your eyes peeled,” Rennis told 
him. “They are up to somethin’. I couldn’t 
find out just what, but they’ve made some 
plans regardin’ you all right.” 

“I’ll try to keep awake,” Ganley said. 

As he stood in front of the hotel watching 
the crowd, Ganley felt that a crisis was ap¬ 
proaching. Because he had not been bothered, 
he did not feel secure. Howger and his friends 
were playing a waiting game, Ganley told him¬ 
self. Perhaps it would be a new game, one 
that he did not understand, and one that would 
cause him trouble. He could only remain on 
guard, determined to do his duty as long as 
he was able to stand and do it. 

He walked slowly down the street in the 
direction of the Palace. The visitors to Cac- 


200 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


tusville were growing more hilarious. More 
men were arriving from the ranches and the 
mines. By morning the most of them would 
be in town, Ganley knew. Suddenly he found 
a woman facing him. 

“Are you the new deputy?” she asked. 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“I am Mrs. Nick Bangan,” she said. “And 
I want to know what you’ve done with Jes¬ 
sie!” 

Ganley’s countenance assumed an expres¬ 
sion of great surprise. 

‘‘ Jessie ?” he asked. “You mean Jessie Ban¬ 
gan ? What have I done with her ? I reckon 
that I don’t understand you, ma’am.” 

“Sure that you don’t?” she snapped. 

“Why, I have met Miss Bangan a couple of 
times since I came to Cactusville, ” Ganley 
said. “I saw her yesterday mornin,’ and I 
made Howger stop pesterin’ her. But I reckon 
that I don’t quite understand what you mean.” 

“I’ve been told that you know where she 
is. She ain’t at home,” Mrs. Bangan said. 

“Not at home? And who told you that I 
knew where she was? Why should I know?” 

“Don’t you?” 


CAUGHT IN A TRAP 


201 


“You mean that maybe somebody has been 
botherin’ her?” Ganley asked evasively. “If 
you think that, I’ll see what I can do, ma’am. 
Mean you think that she might be in danger ?” 

Mrs. Bangan was afraid to speak openly. 
She did not want to tell the deputy that How- 
ger and his men had carried the girl away 
from home and to the shack at the Gold King. 
She had to act on the assumption that Ganley 
did not know that. Howger had told her of 
Jessie’s rescue by some unknown man and 
had intimated that he believed the deputy had 
been that man, but even Howger did not feel 
sure. 

“If you happen to see her,” said Mrs. Ban¬ 
gan, “you make her come right home. She’s 
a headstrong girl.” 

“Yes’m,” Ganley replied. “Where do you 
reckon she is?” 

“I don’t know. If I did know I wouldn’t 
be askin’ you, would I?” the widow snapped. 

“Maybe she’s just visitin’ some friends and 
neglected to go home.” 

“No; she’s been gone all day.” 

“Uh-huh! Well, I’ll keep my eyes open, 
ma’am,” Ganley said. “There are a lot of 


202 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

strangers in town, but I reckon that none of 
them would barm a girl.” 

Mrs. Bangan seemed to sense that be knew 
more than be was telling. Her eyes flashed, 
and sbe seemed on tbe verge of speech. But 
she was wise enough to guard her tongue. 
Sbe tossed her bead and went on along tbe 
street, and Ganley noticed that “Stub” Stibes 
bad been near at band and listening. 

So tbe gang bad sent Mrs. Bangan to accost 
him, possibly believing that Ganley might tell 
her tbe truth. Well, tbe gang bad learned 
nothing by that trick, be told himself. 

As tbe night grew older, tbe hilarity was 
maintained, but it seemed to be held in check. 
Ganley saw nothing unusual, nothing to con¬ 
vince him that tbe Cactusville bad men bad 
started tbe fleecing operations. Men were 
drinking, and men were gambling, but How- 
ger and bis immediate associates did not seem 
to be very active. Ganley remembered what 
Charlie Rennis bad told him. But there was 
nothing that be could do except wait for tbe 
gang to make tbe first move. He was ready 
for trouble and could only await its coming. 

Midnight found him at tbe upper end of 


CAUGHT IN A TRAP 


203 


the street by Jones’s stable. More men bad 
arrived from the ranches, cow-punchers who 
were hard-working, hard-riding, hard-fighting 
fellows. Though the bank had been closed for 
hours, Ganley knew that Crentz would accom¬ 
modate these men by cashing their pay checks. 

He walked back along the street and was 
rewarded by scowls and some muttered threats. 
Ganley knew what had happened. Howger and 
the others were deliberately turning the men 
against him. Perhaps they had whispered that 
the new deputy meant to enforce the prohibi¬ 
tion law and put a limit on gambling. It was 
a move that Ganley had expected the gang to 
make. He came to the Palace again and stood 
to one side of the building, watching the throng 
crowding in and out. And suddenly above the 
din he heard cries that came from the rear of 
the Palace. 

“Help! Help!” 

It flashed through Ganley’s mind that the 
fleecing had begun; that some man who had 
objected to being robbed had been thrown out 
the rear door of the Palace and was being mis¬ 
treated. Ganley walked quickly along the side 


204 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


of the building toward the rear. Again he 
heard the cries. 

“Help! Help!” 

Alert, cautious, he stepped to the comer of 
the building. Light came through the rear 
windows of the Palace and illuminated the 
ground. He saw two men struggling and noth¬ 
ing more. 

“Help!” one of them was screeching. 

The other hurled him backward, then 
charged forward. Ganley supposed it was but 
a drunken row between two miners. A fist 
fight was a commonplace thing, apd he would 
not interfere. He had greater things to occupy 
his mind. But as the assailant rushed forward, 
Ganley caught the gleam of a knife in his hand. 
The other man screeched his fear and tried 
to get away. But the man with the knife was 
upon him, had whirled him back toward the 
rear of the building, seemed at the point of 
attacking with the knife and making an end 
of it. 

Ganley hurled himself forward. 

“Drop that knife!” he cried. 

He was upon the man in an instant, had 
torn the knife from his grasp, and sent it 


CAUGHT IN A TRAP 


205 


flying out into the night. The man he had 
grasped started to fight. He was a powerful 
man, and Ganley had his hands full. The other 
was hugging him, preventing him from send¬ 
ing home a blow. 

And then, from the dark side of the Palace, 
from the rear door of the resort, poured half 
a dozen men. Ganley found that his antagonist 
was holding him securely. The others hurled 
themselves upon him. He tried to fight, did 
fight, but without much hope of success. In 
the dim light he was not able to recognize his 
assailants at first. And then a blow struck the 
back of his head, and he groaned and dropped 
to the ground! 

After a period of darkness he came back to 
consciousness slowly. The first thing that at¬ 
tracted his attention was the pain in his head. 
Then he managed to open his eyes. His wrists 
were lashed together and fastened behind him. 
His knees and ankles were tied. There was 
a gag in his mouth. He was stretched on a 
bunk—in the jail! He closed his eyes for a 
moment until the pain had passed and then 
opened them again. He could see through 
one of the windows, could see the light sky. 


206 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


A struggle told him that his bonds would hold 
effectually, that he could not remove the gag. 

And then the jail door was opened, and three 
men stepped inside and up to the door of the 
cell. They had handkerchiefs over their faces, 
their dress was unfamiliar, and when one 
spoke it was in a voice that Ganley knew well 
was disguised. 

“I reckon you’ll be quiet for a while,” he 
said. “Nice little deputy! You walked right 
into the trap, didn’t you ? That fake fight sure 
fixed you. Spoil the pay-day celebration, will 
you?—I reckon not.” 

He stopped talking for a moment to laugh 
and then spoke once more. 

“You’re goin’ to stay right there, bound and 
gagged, for quite some time! We don’t want 
you interferin’ with things. Understand? 
After the little party is over, we’ll attend to 
you. This is a right good jail, and it’s a fine 
new lock you put on it. I reckon it’ll keep 
you tight enough.” 

There was another laugh, and they went out. 
Ganley heard them locking the outer door. He 
rested for a moment and then tugged again 
in an effort to get free. They had knocked 


CAUGHT IN A TRAP 207 

him down, had taken his keys, and locked him 
in his own jail. And his gun- 

He twisted and turned, and finally he saw 
that they had tossed his gun and holster and 
belt into a corner outside the cell. Small good 
it would do him out there! 

Ganley had a moment of self-disgust. 

“I’m a bum ex-ranger,” he told himself. 
ti They caught me as easy as they’d have caught 
a boy! I’ve got to get out of this!” 

The wave of self-disgust passed in time, and 
determination came to him. He would have 
to escape and vindicate himself. He would 
have to fight it out with the gang now. He’d 
have to protect the miners and punchers, pro¬ 
tect himself. He worked at the bonds on his 
wrists until his wrists were bleeding, and the 
ropes failed to give in the slightest degree. He 
tried to kick his ankles free and could not. He 
failed to remove the gag. His enemies had 
done their work well, probably with a knowl¬ 
edge of past experiences to guide them. 

For a time he rested and listened. From 
the distance came shouts and curses, bits of 
raucous song. The gang was at it already. The 
fleecing had begun. Miners and cow-punchers, 


208 


THE RANGERS 7 CODE 


intoxicated by the crowd, the lights, the liquor, 
the gambling tables, were squandering their 
hard-earned dollars, forgetting the toil that 
each dollar had cost them. And what they 
would not spend freely would be taken away 
from them, Ganley knew. Few men would be 
able to go back to ranches and mines with any¬ 
thing left from a pay check. 

And this was one of the things that he had 
been sent to Cactusville to prevent. What 
would Sheriff Tom Thomas say when he 
learned that his deputy had been locked in 
his own jail? He remembered how he had 
boasted to the sheriff, and he felt suddenly 
ashamed. And what would his old friends in 
the rangers say when they heard the story? 
There was only one way to wipe it off the slate 
—escape and turn the tables against the gang! 

Again he tried to loosen his bonds, and gave 
up in disgust. He could think of nothing that 
would help. Certainly he could not depend 
upon any friend to come to his aid. Charlie 
Rennis, even if he learned of his plight, would 
not have the courage. Here he was, bound and 
helpless, his foes not even doing him the honor 
of guarding him, since they felt that he was 


CAUGHT IN A TRAP 


209 


a secure prisoner. Ropes lashed his arms and 
his legs, a gag half stifled him; the door of the 
cell was closed; the catch was dropped into 
place; the outer door was locked on the out¬ 
side ; and the adobe walls were almost six feet 
thick. Absolutely helpless! 

And, only a short distance away, Snake 
Howger and his friends were working their 
will upon Cactusville, contempt for the new 
deputy in their breasts* 


CHAPTER XVII 


TO RIDE FOR HELP 

B OB DRAIGE liked to think that it had 
been Snake Howger’s orders that had 
kept him in the background since the 
arrival of Ganley in the town, but he knew, 
deep down in his heart, that it had been an 
abiding fear of the new deputy. However, 
once Ganley was a helpless prisoner in the 
adobe jail, Draige came into his own, as he 
often had done. He became a brute in human 
form, a bully over men who did not know 
him well. Draige was a man not so great as 
his reputation, but many men did not know 
that. 

With Ganley unable to interfere, Draige be¬ 
gan gambling, cheating regularly as cleverly 
as he could, drinking a great deal, playing his 
share in the robbery of the town’s visitors. He 

spent the entire night at the gambling tables, 
210 


TO RIDE EOR HELP 


211 


and, when dawn came and the game stopped 
for a time, he went outside and bathed his head 
in the horse trough. 

Breakfast took him to a little restaurant 
at one end of the street. He spent a great deal 
of time over his meal, talking with the other 
men who were eating. And then he went out 
upon the street once more, knowing well that 
there would be little activity until the noon 
hour. He was gratified to see more cow-punch¬ 
ers riding in from the range, more miners 
coming down from the hills. They meant more 
excitement and greater profits. 

Draige did not allowliimself to think of the 
deputy locked up in the adobe jail. He lurched 
down the street, stopped in at the Palace for 
a time, and then wandered toward the hotel. 
And so he met Myrtle Baines, who was starting 
for a cottage on the hillside to spend a part 
of the day with friends there. 

“Just the girl I want to see,” Draige 
mouthed. “Glad that you ain’t jealous over 
the deputy. Regular he man, is he ? I reckon 
that he ain’t.” 

‘Why? Has anything happened?” the girl 
asked. She seemed to feel a horrible fear as 


212 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


she spoke, the fear that Dick Ganley had gone 
the way of the other deputies who had been 
sent to Cactusville. 

“I reckon!” Bob Draige informed her. 
“We ain’t killed him—yet! But we’ve done 
made a fool out of him. He ain’t any worse 
than the other critters Tom Thomas has sent 
over here.” 

“What did you do with him?” she asked. 

Draige leered at her. “Who wants to 
know?” 

“Don’t try to be funny!” she told him. 
“If you don’t want to tell me, say so, and I’ll 
go on up the street.” 

“Now, don’t you get mad, Myrtle. Seems 
to me you’re awful touchy these days. I don’t 
mind tellin’ you. We worked a trick and 
caught him, and we locked him in his own 
jail. He’s there now, bound and gagged, and 
I know who’s got the key.” 

“You, I suppose.” 

“Nope! But somebody who’ll hang onto it, 
you betcha! We made a regular fool out of 
him. There he stays until after pay day. He’ll 
have plenty of time to think how useless he 


TO RIDE EOR HELP 213 

is. And we’ll have a high old time in this 
town while he’s in jail, too.” 

“You can’t keep him there forever,” Myrtle 
said. 

“I reckon not. After we’re done, he’ll be 
turned loose. One of the boys will just pretend 
to find him and let him loose. And everybody 
will be laughin’ at him, then. He’ll be willin’ 
to go back to Goldland, I reckon. Only maybe 
he won’t get the chance.” 

“Why not?” 

“I’ve got a little score to settle with him, 
and the boys will stand by and see it settled.” 

‘ ‘ Seems to me he got the best of you a couple 
of times.” 

Draige’s face grew dark at the memory. 
“But that was in Goldland and right under 
the sheriff’s nose,” he said. “He won’t have 
any sheriff here to protect him.” 

“What are you goin’ to do with him?” 

“Common, ordinary shootin’ is too good for 
him,” Draige snarled. “He’ll be kept in the 
jail three or four days, without anything to eat 
or drink. Then he’ll be turned loose, like I 
said. And I’ll make him eat dirt. I’ll make 
him look like a yeller pup!” 


214 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

44 Huh! He’ll fight, even if he is half 
starved.” 

“YeK, and the minute he starts the fight 
it’ll be all over—for him,’’ Draige replied. He 
stepped nearer to her. “Feel sorry for him?” 
he wanted to know. 

“Why should I ?” Myrtle Baines said, keep¬ 
ing back a gulp. “He doesn’t mean anything 
in my young life.” 

“I thought maybe you was sweet on him.” 

“Just because I said that he was a good 
dancer?” 

“I’m the kind of man you want, Myrtle,” 
Draige told her. “Why can’t we get mar¬ 
ried?” 

“Why should we?” she parried. She was 
thinking rapidly. She wanted to get away 
from Draige, yet in such a manner that he 
would not be suspicious. She knew that she 
would have to act naturally. And she was 
trying to think of some way in which she could 
help the deputy. 

“I’d make you a good husband,” Draige 
went on. “I stand in right with Howger and 
the boys, and there’s always plenty of money. 
You can have everything you want. I’ll build 


TO RIDE FOR HELP 215 

a cottage on the hill and send to the city for 
furniture. You’d better marry me.” 

“Why do you want me?” she asked, lead¬ 
ing him on. 

“I always did like you, even when you 
worked for Charlie Rennis,” Draige replied. 
“I could make you the queen of this here town. 
You’d better marry me, Myrtle.” 

“I don’t need a man. I’ve got a good job, 
and I can always get another if I leave the 
one I’ve got.” 

“But you wouldn’t have to work at all if 
you married me. Gosh, you can even hire a 
chink to do the work at the house. You’d 
better think it over, Myrtle.” 

“All right. I’ll think it over,” she said. 

“Where you goin’ now?” 

“Taking a walk. Then I’m goin’ up the 
hill and make some more visits. Maybe I’ll 
want to go ridin’ this afternoon, if Jones isn’t 
too lazy to saddle a horse.” 

“You tell Jones to give you the best pony 
in the barn, or I’ll settle with him.” 

“All right, Bob. I’d better be goin’ now.” 

“Want me to walk along with yuh?” 


216 


THE HANGERS’ CODE 


She had a moment of panic at that, but her 
quick wit saved the situation. 

“That’d be foolish,” she replied. “You 
haven’t been to bed, have you?” 

“Nope!” 

“You’d better get married and have a 
woman take care of you. You’ll want to be 
busy this afternoon and to-night, won’t you? 
I see that there are a lot of men cornin’ into 
town. How do you expect to be able to handle 
cards if you’re half asleep? Walk with me? 
You’d better be sensible and go get a few 
hours’ sleep, Bob.” 

“You’re a pretty wise girl, at that,” he said, 
grinning at her. “Lookin’ out for the profits, 
huh? I reckon that you’re right. I’ll sure 
want to be able to handle cards to-night. Well, 
I’ll get some sleep and see you this evenin’ 
some time. Maybe I’ll eat at the hotel when 
you do.” 

So she managed to get away from him and 
walked on down the street; she even forced 
herself to climb the side of the hill and visit 
a woman she knew. For almost an hour, while 
the woman chatted and gossiped, Myrtle 
Baines smiled and talked and meanwhile 


TO RIDE FOR HELP 


217 


thought about the situation. For she had no 
intention of letting Dick Ganley remain at 
the mercy of Howger and his crowd, if it could 
be avoided. Finally she got away and walked 
slowly down the path toward the street. She 
felt sure that Bob Draige had gone to bed and 
was out of the way now. 

She knew that it would be useless for her 
to attempt to rescue Ganley. They would 
see her around the jail. Undoubtedly, she 
thought, they were watching it continually. 
And she did not know a person in Cactusville 
to whom she could turn for help. None of 
the Cactusville citizens would aid her, for cir¬ 
cumstances compelled them to stand aside and 
let an officer of the law fight his own battles. 

She could not urge the men from the mines 
and the ranches to release Ganley. They, too, 
stood aside. They wanted no share in a fight 
between Howger ’s gang and a deputy sheriff. 
It was not their battle until they were involved 
personally. They would keep Ganley in the 
jail for a few days, Draige had told her. And 
suddenly the solution came to her—she could 
ride to Goldland and tell the sheriff 

She shuddered at the first thought of it. It 


218 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

would be a long, bard ride, over the rough 
places, across the burning mesa, a ride through¬ 
out the long night, when she would be up in 
the hills where the cold wind would cut her, 
and then throughout the day, with the heat 
waves dancing before her. But she felt called 
upon to do it. And then she remembered what 
Draige had said about Jessie Bangan. She 
knew that Ganley could not have known Jessie 
Bangan before he arrived in Cactusville. Had 
he learned to love her so soon? Had Draige 
been lying in an effort to make her jealous? 

4 4 I don’t care! ’ ’ she told herself fiercely. 4 4 1 
ought to save him. He’s a proper gent, and 
I’m for him! He’s clean and decent, and he’s 
got nerve!” 

That seemed to decide her. Reaching the 
street she hurried along it, past the hotel and 
toward the stable conducted by Jones. She 
walked slower now, as though looking for 
friends and acquaintances. 

Myrtle Baines knew Jones of old. Jones 
was an impressionable bachelor, and he had 
shown a decided preference for her when she 
had worked for Charlie Rennis at the hotel, 
but Myrtle had given him no encouragement. 


TO RIDE FOR HELP 219 

She felt now that she could outwit Jones 
enough for her purpose. But she knew, also, 
that Jones was not easily outwitted. Jones 
was no man’s fool. He had the uncanny fac¬ 
ulty of looking behind the speaking lips and 
seeing the hidden truth. She would have to 
deal carefully with Jones, she told herself. 
Jones was a friend of the Howger gang. Let 
him suspect, and her plans would be ruined. 
She left the street and turned into the cool 
stable through the wide doorway. Jones was 
working just inside. 

“Well!” he gasped. “So you came to visit 
Jones, did you ? You hardly had time to speak 
to me when you first came.” 

“I reckon I was tired out,” she said. “If 
you ain’t glad to see me, I can walk on.” 

“Who said that I wasn’t glad to see you? 
Come in and make yourself comfortable. I’ve 
got one chair.” 

“How do you find yourself?” she asked. 
She sat down in the chair, knowing that she 
could not rush things, though she longed to 
do so. 

“I’m gettin’ along pretty well,” Jones re¬ 
plied. “Business is as good as could be ex- 


220 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


pected. It ain’t like as if I was in some town 
where automobiles were thick as flies. We 
have to use horses around here. But when the 
autos come, I’ll have a garage.” 

She was afraid that he would ramble on, 
telling of his hopes, but he did not. 

“How are things with you?” he asked. 

“All right. I’ve got a good job in Gold- 
land, but the work is hard at times.” 

“Uh-huh! You could dodge that, I reckon, 
if you wanted to. If you’d only-” 

“Don’t you dare propose to me!” she in¬ 
terrupted. “Bob Draige tried that less than 
an hour ago. This is too hot a day for more 
than one proposal.” 

“Bob Draige, huh? The skunk! You goin’ 
to marry that onery Bob Draige?” 

“It’s not likely.” 

“I should think not,” said Jones. “Maybe 
there’s some chance for me yet?” 

“A man never can tell,” she said. 

“You goin’ to stay in town long?” he asked. 
“I was thinkin’ we might get up a dance.” 

“Only three or four days,” she replied. 

“I never get a chance to see you much,’ 3 


TO RIDE FOR HELP 221 

Jones declared. “I can’t leave my business 
and go runnin’ over to Goldland.” 

“Well, there is more fun in Cactusville,” 
she told him. “It’s livelier here. Bob Draige 
was tellin’ me what they did to the new dep¬ 
uty.” 

“Oh—him?” Jones sneered. “They’ll make 
a fool out of him, I reckon, if they don’t change 
their minds and shoot him. Little I care! He 
got fresh with me the day he came—made me 
take care of his horse.” 

“You’re not afraid of him?” she asked. 

“Not any!” 

Myrtle glanced through the open doorway 
at the street. There was nobody loitering near, 
she saw. 

“Oh, yes!” she exclaimed. “I want a horse 
to ride. That’s one reason I came here.” 

“You sure can have any horse in the stable 
or corral, whether I own him or not,” Jones 
offered. 

“I may want to visit some folks up on the 
hill, and it’s too hot to walk up that steep 
grade when there’s a horse handy. ” 

“You just let me saddle a horse for you,” 
Jones said. “I’ll be happy to do it.’ 1 


222 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

She sprang up, laughing lightly, as though 
a good joke had just occurred to her. 

“I’ll ride the deputy’s horse!” she ex¬ 
claimed. “His horse will need exercise, with 
the master in jail, and it’ll be another joke 
on him, too!” 

Jones grinned at her. “You’re sure some 
girl!” he said, with admiration in his manner. 
“You sure can have Ganley’s horse. Ganley 
ain’t in a position to object, I reckon.” 

“Good horse?” 

“Yeh! Never raised in this part of the 
country, though. He looks like a tough-goin’ 
animal. If you ask me, I’ll bet that he’s got 
speed and stamina.” 

“I’ll soon find out,” Myrtle Baines told 
him. 

Jones hurried away to put bridle and saddle 
on Ganley’s horse. He didn’t care, he told 
himself, if Myrtle Baines rode the beast to 
death. Not that he had anything against the 
horse, except that he had picked the wrong 
man for master. And Myrtle Baines, he knew 
well, certainly could ride. No woman in the 
county could beat her there. She had a natural 
way with horses. Her riding was one of the 


TO RIDE FOR HELP 


223 


first things that had attracted Jones to her. He 
led the horse to the door and helped her mount. 

“I don’t know when I’ll be back,” she said. 

“As far as the horse is concerned, I don’t 
care how long you ride, ’ ’ Jones told her. ‘ ‘ But 
I’ll be right eager to see you again.” 

Once more she laughed, and rode through 
the doorway. She turned the horse up the 
street to where there was a path that ran up 
the side of the steep hill to a group of cottages 
and shacks. So far she was safe, she told her¬ 
self. But she had to get clear of the town 
without being suspected. She had known that 
Ganley’s horse was a wonderful one, and that 
was why she had maneuvered to get it. 

She shuddered again when she remembered 
what was before her. She would be alone on 
the wild trail, across the hills, through the 
canons, over the mesa. She did not even have 
a canteen of water. She had no weapon. She 
could only ride and ride and try to win through 
in time. 

Once more she asked herself why she was 
doing this, and she could give herself no satis¬ 
factory answer, save that Dick Ganley was a 
man among men, was playing a clean game, 


224 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

and the odds were heavy against him. She 
refused to make it more personal. 

Riding behind a jumble of big rocks, she 
guided the horse to the right and toward the 
trail that ran to Goldland. Once she glanced 
behind. Nobody was giving her the slightest 
attention. Jones, who had been watching her 
for a time from in front of the stable, had 
gone inside to work. She rode into the trail. 
For an instant she hesitated there. And then 
she kicked at the animal’s flanks and went for¬ 
ward toward the field of large rocks, beyond 
which ran the dim and uncertain road through 
a land of perils. She had fully decided now. 
She bent forward, urged the horse to greater 
speed, talked to him. 

“ We’ve got to make it!” she whispered. 
“It's for your master! ^We must get to the 
sheriff—in time!” 


CHAPTER XVIII 


woman’s courage 


T HROUGH the dirty windows of the 
adobe jail Dick Ganley watched the 
coming of the dawn. The pain in his 
head had ceased, but his arms and legs seemed 
to have lost all feeling. It was quieter in the 
town, but Ganley knew that it meant only that 
men must sleep for a few hours, and that later 
they would be crowding into the resorts again. 
He heard shouts and raucous laughter, as more 
men came in from the mine and the ranches, 
more victims for the gang. He had half ex¬ 
pected that somebody would visit him, but no¬ 
body did. Only a few men in town knew 
that he was locked in the jail, he supposed. 
And as long as he was a safe prisoner there, 
Snake Howger and his associates would not 
bother about him. 

Because of the gag he was tormented by 

225 


226 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


thirst. He tugged at his bonds again and again 
in an effort to get free. They did not give in 
the slightest degree, but the tugging at them 
maintained blood circulation of a sort. He had 
more moments of self-disgust because he had 
fallen victim to a trick. But he knew that 
they profited him nothing. And so he con¬ 
centrated on a determination to make his foes 
pay when he was released. He supposed that 
he would be released some time. Perhaps he 
would be used to furnish merriment at some 
drunken orgy. Perhaps he was due for tor¬ 
ture. 

About half the time he seemed to be in a 
stupor. Now and then he heard men shouting 
to one another near the jail, but they seemed 
to ignore the building. None peered at him 
through the dirty windows. The shouting 
came from friends greeting one another as 
they met. After a time the sun blazed through 
one of the windows, and the interior of the 
adobe jail became like that of a furnace. Per¬ 
spiration streamed from Dick Ganley’s neck 
and hands, his body was bathed in it. Flies and 
gnats buzzed around him, bothered him so that 
even the comfort of slumber was denied him. 


WOMAN’S COURAGE 227 

He tried to chew through the gag, hut found 
that he could not. He tugged at the ropes 
on his wrists again. But the wrists were badly 
swollen now, and the pain almost made him 
faint. He convinced himself that he could not 
free himself by ordinary means. His captors 
had done their work too well. 

He made himself as comfortable as possible 
on one side of the bunk and tried to go to sleep. 
And for a time he did sleep, to be awakened by 
shouting and shooting. He knew that the 
rough work had commenced. Snake Howger 
and the gang had thrown off their masks. Vio¬ 
lence had begun. 

And so the long day passed for Dick Ganley. 
The sun finally left the interior of the jail, and 
the welcome cool dusk came. Ganley scarcely 
could move now. His throat was swollen, was 
almost closed. His eyes pained. He had a 
feeling that he was paralyzed from the waist 
down. He wondered whether Charlie Rennis 
had noticed his absence, and whether Jessie 
Bangan remained in his room at the hotel. 
He spent considerable time thinking of Jessie 
Bangan, for some reason or other. 

Charlie Rennis had noticed his absence dur- 


228 


THE HANGERS’ CODE 


ing the day, and he had managed to learn the 
reason for it. Terror had gripped Charlie Ren- 
nis. Now that the deputy sheriff seemed to 
have been vanquished, Charlie Rennis was 
afraid that Howger and the others would learn 
that the hotelkeeper of Cactusville had been 
too friendly with an officer of the law. He 
finally smuggled a tray of food up to the room 
for Jessie Bangan, but it was more than an 
hour after the regular time for the evening 
meal. The girl hurried to meet him, as he 
entered, and he could tell that she was wor¬ 
ried. 

6 ‘ Have you heard from Mr. Ganley?” she 
asked him. “He hasn’t been to see me all day. 
I wonder what plans he has made! I—I am 
tired of staying here like this.” 

Charlie Rennis stepped closer to her and 
spoke in whispers. 

“They’ve got Ganley!” he said. 

“What do you mean?” j 

“They tricked him last night, after mid¬ 
night, I reckon, and locked him in his own 
jail. He’s bound and gagged and they’re goin’ 
to keep him there until after they get through 
fleecin’ the pay-day crowd. Then they’ll force 


WOMAN’S COURAGE 229 

a fight on him, I reckon, and it’ll be Boot Hill 
for him.” 

“Oh, we must get him out!” she cried. “We 
must get him away—help him to leave town.” 

“Hush!” Charlie Rennis commanded. 
“Talk lower! We don’t dare make a move, 
girl! Think that I want to try to help him 
out of that jail and have Snake Howger catch 
me at it?” 

“So you are a coward?” she asked in scorn, 
her lips quivering, as she looked at him. 

“Maybe so, and maybe not, but I claim to 
have some common sense,” Charlie Rennis told 
her. “I can’t fight the whole town. That dep¬ 
uty knew what he was cornin’ into when he 
came to Cactusville. I can’t afford to mix 
in it. And you can’t either!” 

‘ 6 But we must do something! ’ ’ she said. 6 1 He 
may be suffering in there.” 

“Maybe he is sufferin’ a little. But they’ll 
let him out in a day or so.” 

“If he is bound and gagged and has no 
water or food-” she began. 

“Can’t be helped! Lots of things that ain’t 
right can’t be helped.” 


230 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


‘ 6 You must do something! ’’ she cried. i 6 We 
can’t just let him stay there!” 

“There’s nothin’ that I can do. I liked the 
feller, too,” Charlie Rennis admitted. “I’m 
takin’ an awful chance just by lettin’ you stay 
in the room like this. You’d better get out 
as soon as you can, I reckon.” 

“I have no place to go.” 

“Well, you’d better think it over. I’d like 
to help you and Ganley, also, but I don’t see 
how I can. If that gang got mad at me, they’d 
probably burn down this hotel o’ mine and 
shoot me afterward. I wouldn’t put anything 
past ’em!” 

“Oh, what can we do?” 

“Can’t do anything!” Charlie Rennis re¬ 
plied. “If you want to stay here to-night you 
can, only you be careful. Don’t light the lamp 
in the room, because some of ’em know that 
this is the deputy’s room, and if they saw a 
light burnin’ in it they might get suspicious. 
Maybe it’d be best if you just slipped out later 
and went back to your aunt’s.” 

“I’ll never do that!” she declared. 

“Don’t know as I blame you, but you better 
decide to do somethin’,” Rennis said. 


WOMAN’S COURAGE 231 

Charlie Renrds was worried, as he descended 
the stairs. He was openly afraid. Howger 
might take a notion to search the town for 
the missing girl, and if he did that the hotel 
would not escape. In such case Charlie Rennis 
could only say that he did not know the girl 
was in the room. Of course, if they found 
that he had been carrying meals to her, he 
would have no defense at all. He could only 
throw himself on Howger’s mercy, and How¬ 
ger was merciless. He hoped that the girl 
would slip away during the night. Yes, Charlie 
Rennis was worried to a great degree. 

After he had left the room, Jessie had tried 
to eat but found that she could not. The food 
seemed to choke her. She drank a little of the 
coffee, however. She seemed to visualize Dick 
Ganley stretched in the jail, hungry, thirsty, 
in pain. As Myrtle Baines had done, she tried 
to analyze her feelings. And the answer came 
instantly to her and caused her face to burn. 
She was in love with Dick Ganley, a man she 
never had seen until two days before! 

He was the only man, she told herself, who 
had treated her in a proper manner. He was 
honest, a gentleman, and an officer of the law. 


232 RANGER CODE 

He had run risks to rescue her from the shack 
at the abandoned mine, and now she would 
make an effort to save him in return. She had 
little to lose if they caught her. For almost 
an hour she walked back and forth across the 
room, thinking. Once she stopped at the win¬ 
dow and watched the street for a time, watched 
the reeling men going back and forth from 
resort to resort, listened to the raucous shouts 
and bursts of coarse song. The sight made 
her ill, nauseated her. 

How sick she was of it all! She always had 
fought against it. Somewhere out in the world, 
she knew, there were men and women who did 
not steal and kill, who thought that there was 
something else in existence than drinking and 
gambling and shouting and violence on the 
helpless. 

And now, she told herself, it was time to 
come out into the open and fight with all her 
strength—make a stand for decency. Never 
again would she accept bounty from her aunt, 
who took the money of thieves and murderers 
because her uncle had been one of them! 

And she would help Dick Ganley! In all the 
town she alone would stand by him, on the 


WOMAN’S COURAGE 


233 


side of law and order. She would try to res¬ 
cue him, and, if she did that, she would help 
him in other ways. Jessie Bangan was ready 
to talk now! 

Shaking with fear, hut thrilled with her 
determination, she opened the door of the room 
and peered into the dimly lighted hall. There 
was no one in sight. She darted from the room 
and to the rear stairs and went down them 
quickly and silently. She managed to slip 
from the hotel and gain the darkness behind 
the building without being observed. 

Again she hesitated for a moment, crouch¬ 
ing in the darkness against a heap of boxes 
and barrels, watching, listening. Sudden cour¬ 
age seemed to come to her. She crept away 
from the buildings and back toward the side 
of the hill. 

The jail was not a great distance away, but 
every foot of the journey was fraught with 
peril, she knew. Once she were seen, her plans 
would be wrecked. And so she went ahead 
slowly, keeping in the shadows as much as 
possible, fearful of running into some half- 
drunken man who had wandered from the 


234 


RANGER CODE 


main street, and who might shriek at her and 
so attract the attention of others. 

She saw the flaring lights of the Palace and 
the other resorts, heard shrieks and curses, 
and now and then a wild shot. On she went 
until she was opposite the end of the street. 
And then she turned down the hill and began 
creeping toward the street carefully. She 
crouched behind a rock at last, raised her head, 
and looked. She scarcely could see the bulk 
of the jail at the end of the street. It was 
dark there. No lights from the street touched 
the adobe building. If she could reach it with¬ 
out being seen, there might be a chance, unless 
Howger had placed guards at the jail, and she 
did not think that he had done so. He would 
need all his men to fleece the victims. 

Silently, like a shadow, she went down the 
side of the hill, careful not to trip, to stagger, 
to start a tiny avalanche that might attract 
attention. She crept across the loose gravel 
of the barren hillside, nearer and nearer to 
her objective. Finally she stopped within fifty 
feet of the side of the jail and watched and 
listened. Nobody seemed to be near the build¬ 
ing. The nearest resort was a hundred yards 


WOMAN’S COURAGE 


235 


away. Between that and the jail there was only 
a blacksmith shop, which was closed, and a 
few shacks and tent houses, the owners of 
which were up in the resorts along the street. 

Through the semi-darkness she crept again. 
She reached the side of the jail building, and 
for a moment she leaned against it, getting 
her breath, trying to calm herself for the work 
that she had to do. And then she slipped 
quietly along the side of the building and came 
to the nearest window. 


CHAPTER XIX 


IMPORTANT WORK TO DO 

O NCE more she made sure that there 
was nobody loitering in the vicinity of 
the jail. Then she raised herself and 
put her face close to the dirty, fly-specked pane 
of glass in front of the network of steel bars. 

At first the interior of the jail was nothing 
but blackness; but gradually her eyes grew ac¬ 
customed to it. Paint streaks of light came 
through the opposite window, and she finally 
could make out a dark mass on the bunk in 
the cell, and she knew it for the body of a man. 
A moment longer she waited and fancied she 
heard a groan. Then she waited no longer. 
Around the building she hurried and so 
reached the door. No light from the street 
struck upon it. She felt that she could work 
there unobserved, unless some man happened 
to come by accidentally. 

236 


IMPORTANT WORK TO DO 237 

She examined the new lock. There was an 
iron bar held by staples. The lock, she knew 
at a glance, could not be opened without the 
key, for it was a good lock. But the staples 
could be pried away, the bar dropped, and the 
door thus opened. But she needed tools. Nor 
did she hesitate now. Once more she glanced 
up the street to make sure that nobody was 
approaching. Then she hurried through the 
darkness to the blacksmith shop. 

Entering the blacksmith shop did not call 
for much effort, since the rear door was stand¬ 
ing open. She got inside and prowled around 
for what she sought. There was scant light 
here, and she dared not make one. But she 
found the work bench and fumbled upon it. 
And when she slipped toward the door again 
she had in her hands a short metal bar and a 
knife. 

Soon she was at the door of the jail once 
more. Again she watched and listened. She 
dropped the knife to the ground and put the 
metal bar behind the bolt on the door and 
pried. She tugged with all her strength, an 
unusual strength, stopping now and then to 
listen, to glance up the street. 


238 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

She felt one of the staples give and worked 
furiously. And suddenly it came away from 
the door, and the bolt dropped. She had only 
to pry the door open now. She picked up the 
knife first and then opened the door. For 
a moment she hesitated. Then she slipped 
quickly inside and closed the door after her. 
By the faint light that came from the outside 
she found the door of the cell and lifted the 
catch. Had that steel door been locked, her 
work would have gone for naught. 

An instant later she was kneeling beside 
Ganley. 

“It’s Jessie,” she whispered, tugging to un¬ 
fasten his gag. “I—I’ll get you out!” 

The gag came away, and Ganley mouthed 
meaningless sounds and tried to work his stiff, 
sore jaws. She slashed at the ropes that bound 
him, cut them away, got an arm behind him, 
and helped him sit up on the bunk. 

“We must get away from here,” she whis¬ 
pered. “We haven’t any time to lose.” 

“In—minute,” Ganley gasped. 

He tried to swallow, tried to work his throat 
muscles, and finally he could speak haltingly; 
but his arms and legs seemed to be dead things. 


IMPORTANT WORK TO DO 239 

She sensed that and began working at one of 
his arms. Circulation started, and Ganley al¬ 
most shrieked with the sudden pain of it. But 
he bit his lips and forced himself to move 
arms and legs, and after a time he lurched to 
his feet and staggered across the cell and back. 

“My gun—outside the cell—in the corner,” 
he whispered. 

She hurried and got it and helped him buckle 
it on. He worked at his stiff fingers until he 
could move them readily. And he continued 
to walk back and forth across the cell. 

“We must get away,” she told him again. 
“Try to walk. If we can get up the side of 
the hill, where it is dark-” 

“Yes!” he said. 

She put an arm around him and helped him 
out of the cell and to the outer door. She 
opened the door and peered out. There seemed 
to be no danger. And so she led him out, and, 
while he leaned against the side of the building, 
she closed the door again. Then they started 
away from the jail, up the side of the hill. 

Ganley walked haltingly. But his strength 
was returning rapidly. He was suffering from 


240 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


the ordeal through which he had passed and 
he was hungry. His thirst parched his throat. 
He was as weak as a child, he told himself. 
They went for a hundred yards, and then he 
was forced to sit down on a rock, and she 
crouched beside him. 

“I didn’t know until to-night,” she said. 
“ Charlie Rennis told me. I came as quickly 
as I could. Charlie Rennis was afraid to do 
anything.” 

“You—somebody may have seen you,” Gan- 
ley said. “I’d better get you back to the room 
in the hotel, I reckon. I—I want something 
to eat and drink.” 

“My supper is in the room. I couldn’t eat 
it. And there is some water and a little cof¬ 
fee.” 

“That’ll be fine. Have to get some strength 
back before I do what must be done.” 

“And what is that?” she asked. 

“Settle things, of course.” 

“No, no!” she whispered. “You must hurry 
away from Cactusville. And take me with 
you, if you can. I—I want to go away from 
here. And I—I want to go with you.” 


IMPORTANT WORK L TO DO 241 

“With me!” he gasped. 

“I—I love you,” she said. “I suppose I 
shouldn’t say that, but I can’t help it.” 

He did not answer her in words. But he put 
an arm around her and held her close for a 
moment. 

“But I must do my duty,” he said. “And 
you’ll never know, Jessie, how I’m thankin’ 
you now. Me, a former ranger, lettin’ myself 
be caught like that. To be tied up and left 
all day without water or food. That’s got to 
be wiped out. And you’ve given me the chance 
to do it! I’ll never forget that.” 

“There’ll be danger-” she began. 

“You couldn’t love a coward, could you?” 
he asked simply. 

She did not answer that. 

“So we’ll just have to do the best we can,” 
he told her. “You can wait in the hotel. It’s 
a show-down, little girl!” 

She snuggled closer to him, without speak¬ 
ing. She realized that argument would be 
wasted. 

“Then I’ll help you fight!” she whispered 
suddenly. “I—I’ve got things to tell you.” 


242 


THE BANGERS’ CODE 


4 4 Sure you want to ? ” 

44 Yes! I love you, I said. Your fight is my 
fight now. Oh, how I have hated it all!” 

“I want the King of Cactusville,” Ganley 
told her. 4 4 And I want the man who killed 
Jack Matton. And I want to clean out the 
gang.” 

44 But there is no King of Cactusville,” she 
told him. 

44 What’s that?” 

44 It is just a joke. My uncle was the King 
of Cactusville, and since he died Howger has 
run the gang. They give my aunt money to 
live on. That’s what has made me so ashamed, 
livin’ on money that came from crime. But 
that’s all over now. I’ll never do it again. 
And you mustn’t be too hard on my aunt. She 
never knew of their crimes. She just took the 
money they gave her, never helped them plan, 
or anything like that.” 

44 I understand,” Ganley said. 44 But this 
about the King of Cactusville——” 

4 4 Only a j oke. They made everybody believe 
that there was a King of Cactusville, some 
man who made all the plans and kept in the 



IMPORTANT WORK TO DO 243 

dark and issued orders. They had all the other 
deputies lookin’ for him. It was only a joke, 
Dick. Snake Howger is really the head of the 
gang.” 

“And who killed Jack Matton?” 

“I don’t know that, Dick. They never told 
auntie things like that. But the gang did it, 
of course. He had money, and he wouldn’t 
drink or gamble.” 

Ganley drew in his breath sharply. 

“Let’s go on,” he suggested, trying to 
get up. 

Again she helped him, put her arm around 
him, leaned against him. But more strength 
had come to Dick Ganley now. Perhaps a new 
thought of his slain friend had done that. He 
put one of his arms around her, and he walked 
better. And so they went through the dark¬ 
ness along the side of the hill, across the rough 
places, and finally turned down toward the 
rear of the hotel. 

Now they were compelled to be more cau¬ 
tious, more alert. They did not want to be 
discovered yet. They crept to the rear door 
and found that nobody was near. Into the 
building they went, up the stairs, and man- 


244 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

aged to get into the room without having been 
seen. 

“Eat, Dick!” she whispered. “You must be 
starved. And here is water, if you want to 
drink first.” 

Ganley gurgled some of the water in his 
throat, let some of it slip down, then drank 
deeply. It was like nectar to him. He ate the 
food, too, slowly, knowing that he might make 
himself ill if he gulped it, as he felt like doing. 
And he did not want to be ill. He had work 
to do! 

She sat close beside him and spoke in whis¬ 
pers. 

“I’m so afraid for you,” she said. 

“But what is to be done must be done,” he 
told her firmly. “And you’re not a coward, I 
reckon. You’ve showed me that to-night. 
We’ll make the fight, and we’ll win! You just 
stay here in the room and be brave.” 

“If anything happens to you-” 

“You don’t want to think of that,” he in¬ 
terrupted. “I don’t aim to let anything seri¬ 
ous happen to me. We’ve got to win this fight. 
Just the two of us against the town!” 

“Just the two of us!” she said. 



IMPORTANT WORK TO DO 245 


“That’s the girl!” 

He got up and went to the window and 
pulled down the shade. Then he lighted the 
lamp, turning it low. He took his six-gun from 
its holster and examined it carefully, made 
sure that he had plenty of extra cartridges, 
smiled his satisfaction, and slipped the gun 
back into the holster again. She watched these 
grim preparations from a few feet away, her 
hands clasped before her. When he had fin¬ 
ished, Ganley turned toward her again and 
smiled. 

“I reckon that it’s time for me to go,” he 
said. “Feelin’ fine now, and I’ve got work to 
do—important work! It’ll be a little surprise 
to some folks, I reckon.” 

“Dick! I—I can’t let you go now!” 

She crept close to him, and his arms closed 
around her. Then he bent and kissed her awk¬ 
wardly, for Ganley had not had much to do 
with women. The kiss thrilled him. He kissed 
her again and held her away from him. 

“All Cactusville couldn’t stop me now, Jes¬ 
sie!” he said. “I’ll come through all right. 
You stay right here in the room. Maybe you’d 
better put out the light. ” 


246 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


He smiled at her again, put out the light 
himself, and then led her across to the hall 
door. For a moment he held her close, and 
then he kissed her yet again, and then he was 
gone. 


CHAPTER XX 


ganley's first move 

I T was the wildest night ever seen at the 
Palace, and the Palace had seen many 
wild nights. The place was thronged. 
Men were six deep before the bar, where 
Crentz’s bartenders were serving all sorts of 
concoctions and charging the high prices that 
illicit liquor was supposed to call forth. 

The gambling games were running full blast. 
The poker tables were filled. Faro and rou¬ 
lette layouts were surrounded by crowds. Men 
laughed and shouted and sang, each according 
to the way he happened to be feeling at the 
moment. There had been a lull during the 
morning, but during the afternoon the merri¬ 
ment had become accelerated. And now it had 
reached its height. Howger and the members 
of his gang were stealing openly. If a man 
discovered it, he either kept quiet, or suffered 

247 




248 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


the consequences, which were not to be courted. 

A dozen men had been beaten. Even now 
there were three out back of the Palace, un¬ 
conscious. Crentz walked through his estab¬ 
lishment every hour or so, keeping an eye on 
things, his face grim and cruel. Stibes had 
made friends with a couple of men from a 
mine, men who had more than the usual 
amount of money, and he had taken them to a 
private room for a game. Crentz joined them 
and played also, something that he seldom 
did. The two men from the mine were given 
liquor gratis, and Crentz and Stibes were get¬ 
ting their money a little at a time, stripping 
them methodically. 

Snake Howger was entertaining some men 
in another private room. Howger refused to 
play with ordinary mortals. He sat in a game 
only when the stakes were big. Howger and 
a man of his who posed as a cow-puncher were 
playing with three other men, one a ranch 
foreman, one a mine superintendent, the other 
a newcomer from the East, with a roll on him. 

But down on the main floor of the Palace 
the mob sought after what they called relaxa¬ 
tion. Some of them knew that they were be- 


GANLEY’S FIRST MOVE 


249 


ing robbed, expected it, and thought little of 
it, so long as they had their fun. Others played 
in an effort to win. 

Bob Draige was in his element. He was 
playing poker with four cowboys. Man after 
man had left his table stripped, but there al¬ 
ways was another to take his chair. Draige 
was half intoxicated. He talked now and then, 
breaking the old rule of silence at a poker 
table, and no man rebuked him. But there 
were some in the throng around the table who 
were watching with narrowed eyes, who 
thought that Bob Draige was too fortunate 
whenever he dealt. 

“It’s a great night!” Draige announced. 
“Who wants to sleep? I wish every day was 
pay day, so you fellers would come to town 
and make things lively. Nothin’ to stop us, 
gents. The deputy sheriff is put away safe 
where he won’t bother. Wanted to enforce 
the prohibition law and stop gamblin’, he did. 
Nice, little feller, but he bit off more than he 
could chew. Deal ’em up!” 

Crentz stopped beside the table, watched the 
game for a moment, and then continued on his 
rounds, whispering instructions to an em- 


250 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


ployee here and there, finally making his way 
once more to the private room where the big 
game was in progress. Less than an hour be¬ 
fore, Crentz had slipped from the Palace and 
had gone down to the jail to find the lock still 
on the door and the deputy sheriff on the bunk. 
That had been less than ten minutes before 
Jessie Bangan reached the jail. 

For Crentz was a bit worried concerning 
the deputy. He sensed that Ganley was a bet¬ 
ter man than the others had been. He had 
some fear of him. Crentz was almost decided 
to get out of the town after this clean-up. It 
was getting too dangerous. A man couldn’t 
fight the law forever. 

“Deal ’em up!” Bob Draige shouted. “And 
fill ’em up! Playin’ poker is thirsty work.’ ? 

The men waiting on the poker tables set 
another round of drinks before Draige and the 
men with whom he was playing. Draige’s 
drink looked all right, but it was nothing but 
cold tea. He was keeping his wits about him. 
He knew that he was half intoxicated, and that 
he dared not drink more. And Crentz knew 
it, too, and had given the waiter his orders. 

The others at the table were served with poor 


GANLEY’S FIRST MOVE 251 

liquor that served to befuddle tbeir brains even 
more. After tbeir robbery was accomplished, 
they would be told that the game had been 
square, that they had lost their money fairly, 
but had been too drunk to know it. Then, if 
they objected, they would be subject to attack. 
They would be fortunate if they escaped from 
the town with an unbroken skin. 

Dick Ganley, leaving the room at the hotel, 
slipped quietly down the rear stairs and went 
into the kitchen. The Chinese cook was there, 
and he looked at Ganley as though at a ghost. 

“Rennis in the office ?” Ganley asked. 

The cook nodded assent. 

“Get him,” Ganley directed. “Don’t tell 
him that I am here, but make him come into 
the kitchen.” 

Ganley stepped back against the wall so that 
he could not be seen when the door was opened. 
The Chinese hurried away. In a few moments 
he was back with Charlie Rennis. 

To say that Charlie Rennis was surprised 
to find Ganley standing there in the kitchen 
would be to use a mild expression. His eyes 
grew wide, and he stammered when he tried to 


252 


THE RANGERS' CODE 


talk. Ganley commanded silence with a single 
wave of his hand. 

“I’m outside, you see,” the deputy said. 
“And now the fireworks are due to start. Ren- 
nis, Miss Bangan is up in the room again. She 
is the one who got me out of jail, you not havin’ 
the nerve.” 

“I—-I didn’t dare.” 

4 4 Uh-huh! All right, Rennis! What I want 
to say is this—you take good care of Miss 
Bangan until I get back. And if anything 
should happen that I don’t get back, you help 
the girl get away and to Goldland. Under¬ 
stand? The sheriff will pay you for your 
trouble, if you ask for pay. I’m trustin’ you, 
Rennis. Are you man enough to do it?” 

“I—I’ll do it.” 

“All right! See that you do. Don’t tell any¬ 
body now that I am loose. I want to surprise 
somebody down at the Palace.” 

“You’d better get out of town,” Charlie 
Rennis advised him hoarsely. 4 4 They’ll get you 
sure!” 

“I’m ready to take a chance.” 

44 It’s foolish, Ganley! You’ll be walkin’ 
right into a den of rattlesnakes.” 


GANLEY’S FIRST MOVE 


253 


“A man can kill a snake.” 

“But they’ll be too many for yah, Ganley! 
You’ll be fightin’ the whole town. The gang 
has told the boys that you’re against dr inkin’ 
and gamblin’. Even the poor fools who are 
bein’ fleeced will be against yuh.” 

“Maybe I can convince them different,” 1 
Ganley said. 

“You’ll be a fool to-” 

“ Yeh? Well, Rennis, I’m goin’ to do it just 
the same. It’s time that Cactusville was 
cleaned up and this gang wiped out. The 
sheriff sent me here to do it, and I’ll do it or 
get plugged tryin’. That’s all, Rennis!” 

Ganley whirled around and went through 
the door and plunged into the darkness. Char¬ 
lie Rennis scratched at his head, as he looked 
after him. 

“There goes a regular he man!” Charlie 
Rennis said, as though speaking an obituary. 
“It’s a shame! Yes, sir! Its’ a dod-rotted 
shame that he has to face it !” 

Keeping a distance up on the side of the 
hill, Ganley walked along parallel to the street, 
approaching the Palace. For a moment he 



254 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


stopped and looked down at the flaring lights, 
the jostling throng. He was cool and calm 
now, a deadly fighting machine. He knew that 
he would have to do something in addition to 
shooting. He would have to get the moral sup¬ 
port of some of the visitors to Cactusville. 

A few feet from the side of the Palace, be¬ 
tween it and the next building, some cow- 
punchers had built a small fire and were sitting 
around it, tired for the moment of the crowds. 
Ganley watched them for a time, but finally 
decided that they were only resting, and were 
not talking over their troubles and plotting 
against the gang. He could not expect to get 
reinforcements there, he told himself, nor any 
other place. He would have to start the battle 
alone and trust to luck. 

He went nearer to the street. He could see 
that the Palace was jammed, that half the 
men in it were reeling, and the other half 
fighting to get near the bar. He watched the 
crowd for some time. He could not see How- 
ger or Crentz or Stibes, and he supposed that 
they were in some of the private gambling 
rooms. This was as Ganley desired it. He 


GANLEY’S FIRST MOVE 255 


did not want to deal with all of them at once, 
if it could be avoided. 

And he could not make a move, he told him¬ 
self, until he saw violence or deliberate rob¬ 
bery. He could not be hasty about it. He 
could not walk into that crowd and deliberately 
arrest some of the gang without having evi¬ 
dence. If he tried to do that, they might simply 
make a fool out of him again, possibly not stop 
until he was a candidate for the graveyard. 

The crowd inside the Palace swayed from 
side to side, and so Ganley caught a glimpse 
of Bob Draige sitting in the poker game. He 
drew in his breath sharply. He had something 
upon which to work now, a point from which 
he could start. 

Nearer to the street he went, his determina¬ 
tion growing. He knew the value of surprise, 
and he wanted this to be a case of surprise. 
He thought once more of Jack Matton, his 
friend, of the indignity the gang had put upon 
him, and which must be wiped out, and then 
of Jessie Bangan. Thinking of these things 
gave him added strength and courage. He 
went on down into the street. 

In that jostling throng he attracted no at- 


256 THE MGERS’ CODE 

tention. Men did not seem to glimpse the star 
he wore. He fought through the crowd to the 
door of the Palace and managed to squeeze 
inside. And there he stood hack against the 
wall, alert and ready for action, and looked 
over the crowd once more. 

Howger was not there. Neither was Crentz 
or Stibes. Bob Draige was at the poker table 
in the rear. Ganley knew that others of the 
gang were scattered through the crowd, but 
he did not know them. He would have to take 
his chances. And he doubted whether the les¬ 
ser members of the gang would make a move 
until Howger or one of his immediate associ¬ 
ates gave the word. He forced his way slowly 
through the crowded room. Here and there a 
man noticed his star and fell back, wondering. 
Ganley kept alert. He was watching on every 
side, expecting action every moment. 

On he went, slowly, but surely, making his 
way toward that table in the rear of the room 
where Bob Draige was playing. Draige had 
just won a pot and was talking raucously to 
the men around the table. It was a profitable 
evening for Draige. 

The game continued, and before Ganley 


GANLEY’S FIRST MOVE 257 


could reach the table it was Draige’s time to 
deal again. He dealt swiftly, as he always did 
when he was cheating, maintaining a rapid 
fire of comment, as he did so. The players 
picked up their cards. 

Ganley forced his way through the last ring 
around the table and looked at the cards held 
by the man sitting before him. It was the same 
story—the man held an ace full. The betting 
commenced. The man with the ace full boosted 
the pot. It got around to Bob Draige again. 

“I’ve got a pretty good hand, myself,’’ 
Draige said. “I reckon that this is the time 
to hit the sky, hombre. Of course, you’ve got 
every right in the world to think that I’m 
bluffin’. But it’ll cost you another twenty to 
find out.” 

He pushed his chips into the middle of the 
table, put his cards down before him, and 
looked across at the man who held the ace full. 
There was sudden silence around the table. 
Bob Draige looked around and saw Ganley. 

The new deputy bent forward, his hands 
hanging at his sides. The expression on his 
face was stern, his eyes were blazing. He 
looked straight at Bob Draige, the same as he 


258 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


had in Goldland where Draige had not been 
in the midst of friends. 

“Draige,” he said, “I thought I told you 
never to play poker again when I was around! ’ y 


CHAPTER XXI 


BRANDED! 

T HERE was a moment of tense silence. 
The men standing close to Ganley 
moved silently to either side. Those 
near Draige did the same. It was the moment 
preliminary to violence, the way these men 
looked at it. Bob Draige, one of the Cactus- 
ville gang, had been faced by a deputy sheriff 
in the Palace, where Draige had friends, and 
the deputy had none. 

A look of fear came into Bob Draige’s face 
momentarily. But he remembered that he was 
among friends, and not in Goldland. He made 
no move with his hands, but he spoke. 

“So the new deputy sheriff is goin’ to stop 
men playin’ poker, is he?” Draige said. 

There was a growl from those in the crowd, 
but Ganley gave it no attention. 

“Nothin’ like it!” Ganley said. “I don’t 

259 


260 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


care how much men play poker. But I’m goin 9 
to see that they have a fair chance.” 

6 ‘What do you mean?” Draige screeched. 

“I caught you cheatin’ in Goldland, and I 
told you never to play poker again when I was 
around. You didn’t think I’d be around, did 
you, but here I am! You’re a card cheat, and 
a poor one at that. You just dealt one of these 
boys an ace full, and I’ll bet you’ve got a set 
of fours yourself. Turn over your cards!” 

Bob Draige was in a panic. But it soon 
passed. 

“Maybe I have got a set of fours, and maybe 
I haven’t,” he said. “You’re not in this 
game.” 

“I’m here to see that you don’t cheat and 
rob these boys who are tryin’ to have a little 
fun after workin’ hard all month,” Ganley 
said, knowing that he was saying the right 
thing. “You’re a cheat! If you don’t like it, 
draw and shoot!” 

There was another moment of tense silence. 
Bob Draige did not move either hand. Gan¬ 
ley’s eyes were holding him. He remembered 
the swiftness of Ganley’s draw in Goldland. 
He remembered how Ganley had beaten him 


BRANDED 


261 


with his fists, conquered him. At heart Bob 
Draige was a bully and a coward. Without the 
backing of others, as cruel and relentless as 
himself, he was as nothing. 

“Turn over your cards!” Ganley com¬ 
manded again. “Let the men here see that 
I’m right, and that you’re a cheat! You’ve 
been winnin’ with too much regularity, Draige! 
It was mighty clever of you to tell these boys 
that I was goin’ to stop gamblin’. But they 
know now that I’m not. I’m only goin’ to see 
that they have a fair chance for their money!” 

Still Draige did not move. The man across 
the table, who held the ace full, suddenly bent 
over. 

“You turn over them cards, Draige!” he 
commanded. 

“Bet, if you want to see ’em!” Draige said. 

The man with the ace full thereupon took 
control of the situation. Draige found himself 
looking down the muzzle of a weapon. And 
with his left hand the man across the table 
turned over the cards. There were four tens. 

44 So that’s what we’ve been up against! ’ 9 the 
cow-puncher cried. 44 You dirty crook! It ain’t 


262 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

enough to pay four prices for what we drink. 
You’ve got to rob us when we play cards.” 

“Watch your hands, Draige!” Ganley 
warned. 

Draige’s face had gone white. He was afraid 
to draw and fight it out. He licked at his dry 
lips. He looked wildly around for a friend. 
But he saw nobody but cow-punchers he had 
robbed, men who instantly had turned against 
him at Ganley’s exposure of his unclean meth¬ 
ods. 

“Get up!” the man across the table com¬ 
manded. 

Two other men jerked Draige to his feet and 
disarmed him. Another faced Ganley. 

“We’ll take care of this, deputy,” he said. 
“Thanks for lettin’ us know about the skunk!” 

“Brand the pup!” shouted somebody in the 
crowd. 

“That’s the stuff! Put a T on his face! 
Mark the thief!” another shouted. “There’s 
a fire outside. We can get a runnin’ iron in the 
blacksmith shop.” 

“Boys-” Ganley began. 

“We’ll attend to this, deputy. It’s small-fry 
business for you,” they told him. “We won’t 


BRANDED 263 

kill the cuss, much as he deserves it. We’ll 
brand him and run him out of town!” 

Already they were hustling Bob Draige to¬ 
ward the door and through the throng—a rag¬ 
ing, screeching Bob Draige. The cow-punch¬ 
ers laughed and shouted to drown his shrieks. 
They did not want Draige’s friends to hear 
and attempt a rescue. 

And it was a determined group of men. An 
attempt at rescue would mean a fight and a 
bloody one, but they were ready. Dick Ganley 
found himself helpless in the hands of these 
men who suddenly had turned friendly. They 
jostled him to one side, not deliberately hold¬ 
ing him, but getting between him and Draige. 

“ We ’ll attend to this! ’ ’ they cried. “ You ’re 
a square guy, deputy.” 

The crowd in the Palace was trying to find 
what was happening. Crentz’s employees 
sprang upon tables and the bar, but they could 
not make out what was taking place. Bob 
Draige was hustled to the street and around the 
corner of the building to the fire, and there he 
was thrown to the ground and held. 

Ganley turned and started toward the door, 
but always men crowded before him. And 


264 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


when he finally did reach the door, it was to 
find a throng before it, some trying to get in, 
others to get out. Still he tried to gain the 
outer air. 

The determined cow-punchers were busy 
now. A running iron was taken from the 
blacksmith shop and thrust into the fire. A 
circle of grim men surrounded fire and victim, 
keeping back others. Other men from the 
ranches walked back and forth just outside the 
circle, turning men away. 

Bob Draige screeched until they throttled 
him, held his face to the coarse gravel, ground 
it down until he was almost smothered. He 
could see the running iron getting red. He 
realized that there would be no stopping these 
men. He had been caught, and he must pay! 

For an instant hatred of Ganley surged in 
his mind. But there was fear mingled with 
the hatred. Once more he remembered how 
Ganley had beat him down and punished him. 
He thought of Howger. Why didn’t Snake 
come to his rescue? He hadn’t liked the way 
Howger had acted lately. Howger seemed to 
think that he was no good since the beating 


BKANDED 265 

in Goldland. If Howger had let him assassi¬ 
nate Granley, this couldn’t have happened. 

His twisted, gnarled mind centered in a 
hatred of Howger, who did not come to his 
rescue. He saw one of the punchers withdraw 
the running iron, now redhot, and he screamed. 
A hand clutched at his throat, and the scream 
was cut short. 

“Now, you thief!” 

One of the punchers was speaking. They 
grasped Bob Draige by the hair and raised 
his head. Again he screamed, and this time 
they let him scream. The red-hot running iron 
came closer. He could smell the heat from it. 
He closed his eyes. He tried to fight, but they 
held him fast. 

The touch of the hot metal to his right cheek! 
This time he screeched because of the stab of 
pain he felt. The iron traveled on, and Bob 
Draige fainted. 

Water from the horse trough brought him 
back to consciousness. His cheek was swollen 
and pained him. The thing had been done. 
Bob Draige knew that he always would carry 
that mark, a big T, on his face. It would mark 
him for what he was—a thief! He would be- 


S66 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

come known from one end of the land to the 
other as such. Men would turn from him. No 
man would associate with him. No man would 
sit in a game with him. All because Howger 
had not come to the rescue! 

“ You start pronto, Draige, and keep goin’!” 
some man was saying to him. “If you are 
caught around here again you’ll be worse than 
branded. Get goin’, you crook!” 

They jerked him to his feet. He found him¬ 
self staggering up the street, past the black¬ 
smith shop and the jail, a group of determined 
men at his heels. Cursing, sobbing, he stumbled 
over the rough road. He came to the end of the 
street, and there the cow-punchers stopped, 
but Bob Draige went on. 

Presently the men who had branded him 
turned back toward the Palace and met Gan- 
ley. 

“Much obliged, deputy,” one of them said. 

“You men-” Ganley began. 

“Now don’t you go to spoilin’ things, dep¬ 
uty, by objectin’ to what we did to Draige. 
He had that and a lot worse cornin’ to him, I 
reckon. Maybe we’ve saved you a lot of 
trouble. We just branded him and sent him 


BRANDED 


267 


out of town. And if you find any more of this 
here Cactusville gang workin’ crooked, you 
just let us know.” 

44 They’re all workin’ crooked,’’ Ganley said. 

44 If you ’ll just point ’em out-’ ’ 

44 Sorry, hoys, but this here is my game,” 
Ganley said. 44 It’s what I’m paid to do. I 
reckon that I’ll just have to play the game 
alone. But thanks, just the same!” 


CHAPTER XXII 


SMOKE OF BATTLE 

HE branding of Bob Draige by tbe cow- 



punchers had caused a turmoil in the 


Palace. News of it swept through the 
crowd and up and down the street to the other 
resorts, from one end of the hectic town to the 
other. Men crowded into the thoroughfare, 
eager to learn the minor details. 

Dick Ganley, walking back toward the front 
door of the Palace through the crowd, knew 
that men were looking at him differently. The 
news had flashed through the throng, too, that 
he had compelled Bob Draige to stop cheating 
at cards. Every man who had lost money to 
Draige became Ganley ? s friend. 

Stub Stibes and Crentz, finishing with the 
men with whom they had been playing, went 
into the main room of the Palace to search for 
new victims, and so they heard the news. 
Crentz called one of the gang and sent word 


268 


SMOKE OP BATTLE 269 

to Snake Howger, and then took Stibes to one 
side. 

44 There’s trouble cornin’, Stibes, and we 
might as well be sensible and get ready for it,” 
Crentz said. 44 That cussed deputy has got out 
of jail some way. Somebody must have helped 
him. And he’s already turned the boys against 
Draige. That means that he’ll try to turn ’em 
against the rest of us, if we don’t handle him 
pronto! It’s got to be done. ’ ’ 

4 4 I’m ready! ’ ’ Stibes declared. 4 4 1 reckoned 
that a fuss would come sooner or later.” 

4 4 We’ll wait for Howger if we can, if he 
isn’t too long gettin’ here,” Crentz said. 44 But 
he’s settin’ in a big game, and he might not 
want to leave unless it’s absolutely necessary. 
Don’t make any mistake about this, Stibes. 
We’ve got to get this man Ganley—get him 
quick and get him good. We can make up some 
sort of a story afterward. The boys will swear 
to anything, o’ course.” 

Crentz led the way along the bar toward the 
middle of the room. What had happened to 
Bob Draige had not stopped the merrymaking, 
but the men were quieter. They seemed to feel 
that there was tragedy in the air. They ad- 


270 


RANGER CODE 


mired Ganley for taking a stand against the 
gang, but nine-tenths of the men who knew 
the circumstances rated him as a brave fool. 

He walked in from the street, bending 
slightly forward, his hands hanging at his sides 
in characteristic fashion. There was a pe¬ 
culiar smile upon his face, though his eyes 
were narrowed and flashing. He glanced 
quickly over the men nearest him and went 
slowly down the room. 

As though by magic, there appeared a 
cleared space between Ganley and Crentz. 
Stub Stibes was off to one side, but where he 
could play a part in the game. Ganley looked 
at both of them, then centered his stare on 
Crentz. 

The proprietor of the Palace had a moment 
of nervousness, but he did not betray it. His 
face was inscrutable. He came to a stop a 
dozen feet from Ganley and looked the deputy 
up and down, as though he were a curiosity. 

“I thought you were in jail,” Crentz said, 
sneering. 

“Yeh?” Ganley said. “I’m. willin’ to admit 
that a dozen or so jaspers did knock me on the 


SMOKE OP BATTLE 271 

head and locked me in the jail, but I got out 
at the proper moment.’’ 

“What have you done to Draige?” Crentz 
demanded. 

“I told him to stop playin’ cards, and some 
other gents did the rest,” Ganley replied. 
“Draige is a rotten card cheat. His work is 
too coarse. I’m surprised that you and your 
friends would have a man like Draige in your 
gang.” 

“What’s that? What do you mean by a 
gang?” 

“I mean the gang of crooks and thieves that 
have been runnin’ this town!” Ganley said, 
his eyes flashing. “I mean Howger and you 
and a few others, Crentz. Is that talk plain 
enough?” 

“Lookin’ for trouble, are yuh?” Crentz 
snarled. 

“Suppose I am?” 

“You’re liable to get it!” 

“All right!” Ganley said. “I’m standin’ 
right here, Crentz. You’re in the midst of 
your friends, I reckon, and they’ll be more 
than willin’ to see that you get a square deal. 
Any time you feel like it, Crentz, just pull 


272 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


your gun and start shootin’. I notice that 
you’ve got a gun on you.” 

There was instant silence in the big room 
save for the sounds made by shuffling feet, as 
men tried to get out of the way of the hostilities 
they felt sure were coming. Crentz’s face had 
gone white, and then it flushed red. 

“You’re makin’ fightin’ talk!” he said. 

“Ain’t that what you wanted?” Ganley 
asked. “It’s time for a show-down, Crentz. 
I’m in this town to see that things run right. 
There’ll be no more robbery and killin’. Un¬ 
derstand that? And it’d be better for the 
town, I reckon, if you sold out your place to 
some decent man. The lock on the jail is 

busted, but I aim to get a new one in the 

mornin’. And you’re liable to sleep there, 
Crentz, if you ain’t careful.” 

“Why, you-” Crentz began. 

He bent forward, his face almost purple 
with wrath, his hands closing and opening 
spasmodically. But he made no attempt to 
draw the gun that was swinging against his 
hip. He did not like Ganley’s careless atti¬ 
tude. He knew it, had seen it before. He knew 
that the instant he made a move toward his 


273 


SMOKE OP BATTLE 

weapon Ganley’s hand would dart down and 
come up with a flaming gun in it. And for the 
first time in years Crentz felt a horrible fear. 
Then it flashed across his mind that this dep¬ 
uty was but another in a long list. He was in 
the midst of his friends. The gang would see 
him through. 

“You think that you’re quite some man, 
don’t you?” Crentz said. “It’s easy to talk 
big. You seem to think that everybody is 
afraid of that tin star you’re wearin’.” 

“I’m still standin’ right here, Crentz!’’ Gan- 
ley said. 

Just that and nothing more. Crentz under¬ 
stood it; the crowd understood it. Crentz must 
draw, or acknowledge that he had backed down. 
And those in the crowd sensed that Crentz was 
afraid to draw. Unless he did, he would not be 
tolerated afterward. As a bad man, he would 
be the joke of the range. 

The proprietor of the Palace knew that the 
moment had come. He stared at Ganley for a 
time, as though gathering words. Stub Stibes 
had been drawing nearer slowly, and now he 
was to one side and only a short distance from 
Ganley. 


274 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


Crentz started to raise his left hand, as 
though to point to Ganley and indulge in a 
denunciation. It was the signal for which 
Stibes had been waiting. It was the old trick 
of attracting attention of a man while another 
crept forward and fired. 

Like a streak of lightning splitting the mid¬ 
night sky, the right hand of Stibes dropped 
to his holster. Two reports shattered the si¬ 
lence—two more—another! 

Dick Ganley had been watching Stibes from 
the corner of his eye. He had seen that quick 
move. And his own hand had acted also like a 
streak of lightning. He fired, as Stibes fired. 
Stibes whirled and crashed to the floor. Dick 
Ganley whirled halfway around from the force 
of the bullet that tore into his shoulder. As he 
whirled, his gun spoke again, the same instant 
that Crentz’s spoke. 

Crentz threw wide his arms and dropped 
like a log. Ganley reeled against the bar. Once 
more his gun spat fire, as he saw one of the 
bartenders start to draw, and once more his 
target struck the floor. Then there was silence 
again for a moment, while men coughed be- 


SMOKE OF BATTLE 275 

cause of the pungent smoke. And then they 
heard Ganley’s voice. 

“Anybody else want to attack the law? 
Don’t mind me because I got a little flesh 
wound in the shoulder. I’m ready and willin’. 
Come on, you crooks! We’re out to clean up 
this here town of Cactusville. Let’s have some 
excitement!” 

His revolver held ready, he walked straight 
at the crowd. Men fell back before him. They 
had seen the results of the three shots that he 
had fired, and they knew that his weapon still 
held three more. None of them courted a bullet 
from that source. 

“Anybody else?” Ganley demanded. “Try 
it to my face and not my back! Nobody else, 
huh ? All right! Then you listen to me: every 
man who’s been associated with Howger and 
the gang better make tracks out of town before 
noon to-morrow. I know some of you, and 
I’ll take action if you don’t do as I say. Is 
that plain enough? There’ll be no more rob- 
bin’ and killin’ miners and punchers in this 
town. Cactusville is goin’ to be a place where 
a man can come for a little fun without losin’ 


276 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


Ms money and Ms life. There’s goin’ to be a 
square deal for everybody.” 

He glanced around the crowd again, broke 
his revolver, and ejected the cartridges that 
he had used. He reloaded carefully and put 
the weapon back into its holster. Then he 
turned to the bar and beckoned a quaking bar¬ 
tender. 

“Under the circumstances, I’ll take a little 
drink of the good stuff,” he said. “Medicinal 
purposes only. Hurry it up!” 

“ Y-yes, sir!” the bartender gasped. 

“Some of you men cart Crentz and Stibes 
into one of the back rooms,” Ganley continued. 
“They can be planted in Boot Hill to-morrow. 
One grave is already dug. They meant it for 
me. How is that man behind the bar ? Only 
wounded in the arm ? All right! Tell him to 
get out of town before noon to-morrow.” 

He gulped the drink that the bartender gave 
him, leaned against the bar once more, and 
again looked over the crowd. 

“Any man who cares to do it,” said he, “can 
inform Snake Howger that I’m here, in case 
he wants to see me! He might have some ob- 


SMOKE OF BATTLE 277 

jections to make about the way I’ve handled 
his close friends/’ 

The men in the crowd began moving. The 
tension was broken. The bodies of Crentz and 
Stibes were carried out, and the wounded bar¬ 
tender sneaked out the back door. Little knots 
of men stood to one side, scarcely knowing 
where to place their allegiance. Others looked 
at the new deputy sheriff in undisguised ad¬ 
miration, not caring who saw. 

They realized fully that this was the crisis, 
and that there was a clash coming. Dick Gan- 
ley had sent word to Snake Howger that he 
was there, waiting. There could be only one 
answer to that unless Howger wanted to slip 
from town like a craven, and he would scarcely 
do that. 

Either Snake Howger or Dick Ganley was 
doomed to go down to defeat, and that quickly. 
The men from the mines and the ranches would 
not interfere. It was not their fight, and they 
did not intend to participate in it. But they 
would be on hand to see that Dick Ganley got 
an honest deal! 


CHAPTER XXIII 


THE DAEE TO DRAW 

S NAKE HOWGER always had been the 
brains of the Cactusville gang. His had 
been the leadership since the death of 
Nick Bangan, and even before Bangan’s death 
Howger had acted in an active advisory capac¬ 
ity and had actually made the most of the 
plans. Howger depended upon something 
more than his well-known ability to draw with 
speed and shoot with accuracy. He flattered 
himself that he knew men and could read them, 
that he could pick out their weaknesses and 
play upon them to his own advantage and that 
of his companions. 

Sitting in the big game in one of the private 
rooms in the rear of the Palace, Snake Howger 
had received a whispered message to the effect 
that Dick Granley had managed to make his 
escape from the jail. Howger did not allow 

278 


THE DABE TO DBAW 279 

the news to interfere with his immediate busi¬ 
ness, which was to fleece the men with whom 
he was playing poker. If Granley had escaped, 
it meant merely that there was sure to be 
trouble of some sort later. 

Then, a short time afterward, he received 
the news of what had happened to Bob Draige. 
He cared nothing for Draige’s suffering. 
What disturbed Howger was that the cow- 
punchers had handled Draige, and not the dep¬ 
uty. It meant that the men from the ranches 
and mines were growing suspicious, and they 
might remain away from Cactusville, and then 
easy profits would cease. 

Kegarding Bob Draige, Howger did not care 
much whether he had been branded and run 
out of the town or not. He had judged that 
Bob Draige had about outlived his usefulness 
to the gang. Draige had been whipped terribly 
in Goldland, and when such a thing happens 
to a man it takes something from him that 
never can be replaced; something of the man’s 
spirit is slain forever. 

So Snake Howger continued his game. After 
a time he realized that there was a sudden 
lull in the noise down in the main room, but 


280 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


lie gave it little attention. Crowds were like 
that, he knew—roaring at one moment and 
quiet the next, like a hunch of croaking frogs 
in a pool. 

And then there came to his ears through the 
thin partitions the sound of firing. Howger’s 
eyes contracted to two tiny slits at the sound. 
He had counted the shots. Two together, two 
more together, and then a single one. He tried 
to translate the sounds. Deputy Sheriff Gan- 
ley had mixed it with some of the gang, he 
supposed. 

Howger smiled in an enigmatic manner and 
continued his game. If Ganley had been killed, 
he would have a good alibi, could show that 
he had not been near the scene. That Ganley 
had been either killed or wounded, he did not 
doubt. He could not imagine a different ter¬ 
mination of hostilities. 

Another moment passed, and then the door 
was hurled open, and one of the gang rushed 
into the room and up to Howger’s side. This 
man did not take the trouble to whisper. 

“ Snake, Ganley’s been shootin’!” he gasped. 

“Well?” 


THE DARE TO DRAW 281 

“He’s killed Crentz and Stibes. He got ’em 
both. Ganley’s shot in the shoulder!” 

Snake Howger drew in his breath sharply. 
This was the unexpected thing, and it came 
as something of a shock to him. 

“Sure?” he demanded. 

“Sure!” 

“All right!” 

The man rushed away. Howger tossed the 
cards on the table before him and passed the 
deal. As another man dealt, Howger digested 
the news. Crentz and Stibes at one swoop! 
His right-hand men! Things were commencing 
to look black for the Cactusville gang. 

Howger considered that perhaps it all had 
come to an end, that there was no more juice 
in the orange. Well, he had picked Cactusville 
clean. And this new deputy had no tangible 
evidence against him. He would remain in this 
room and continue to play. They could not 
say that he had a hand in the shooting. And 
the day following, if Ganley still was handling 
things, Howger would cash in and quietly slip 
away. There were other fields that he could 
invade, other towns he could terrorize with a 
gang. 


282 


THE KANGEBS’ CODE 

The game continued. Howger was playing 
mechanically now, and not as carefully as he 
generally played. He had a lively curiosity 
to know what was happening down in the big 
main room, but he did not intend going down 
to find out. Once more the door of the room 
was open, and another man came in. He was 
one of Crentz’s bartenders. 

“Well?” Howger snapped. 

“The new deputy has sent you a message, 
Snake. He tolcj. me to fetch it. ’ ’ 

“Well?” 

Howger waited calmly for the message, half 
suspecting what it would be. 

“He says to tell you, Snake, that he’s here, 
in case you want to see him, that he’s waitin’ 
down by the bar, and that you might want to 
make an objection to the way he has handled 
some of your friends. ’ ’ 

“All right!” Howger said. 

The man turned and hurried away, closing 
the door softly behind him. Howger looked 
at the others around the table. His face was 
still inscrutable. 

“Gents,” he said, “I reckon that I’ll have 
to quit the game for a time and give you a 


THE DARE TO DRAW 283 

chance for revenge later. There’s some bus¬ 
iness that won’t wait. It’s a nuisance, but it 
can’t he helped. We’d better cash in, I guess. 
Then, if anything should happen to me, we’ll 
all be square. Maybe we can continue the game 
in an hour or so.” 

They understood his meaning fully. Silently 
they counted their chips and cashed them in. 
Snake Howger stood up and pulled down his 
vest. He brushed some dust from his elbow. 
He adjusted his belt, took his revolver out of 
its holster, inspected it, and slipped it back. 
He smiled once at the men with whom he had 
been playing and turned toward the door. 

And now that his back was toward them, his 
face changed swiftly, and the look of the beast 
came into it. Ganley had shot down Crentz 
and Stibes! Ganley had dared send him a 
message that he was waiting, and the whole 
town knew it. There could be but one answer 
to that! 

Howger opened the door. Before him was 
a short flight of steps that led down to the 
level of the floor of the big room. Howger 
adjusted his vest again, cleared his throat, 


284 THE RANGERS’ CODE 

glanced once over the crowd, and started to 
descend. 

There was not a sound in the big room. Men 
were jammed against the walls, and the space 
in front of the bar was clear. Dick Ganley 
stood leaning against the bar, his hands at his 
sides, his face a little pale. 

Howger reached the level of the floor and 
approached slowly with measured tread. His 
face, too, was white. His eyes were mere pin 
points. He was dangerous, vindictive, the cool 
deliberation of a professional killer in his man¬ 
ner. 

Ten feet from Dick Ganley he came to a 
stop, facing his man, leaning forward slightly, 
his body balanced perfectly on the balls of his 
feet, his arms straight at his sides, but far 
from being rigid. It was the position of the 
gun fighter who knew how to draw with speed. 
There was a moment of tense silence, as they 
faced each other, looked each other straight 
in the eyes. Then Howger spoke evenly, al¬ 
most calmly. 

“You wanted to see me, Ganley?” he asked. 

“ Yeh! ” Dick Ganley drawled. ‘ 1 But before 
I begin speakin’, Howger, let me tell you that 


285 


THE DARE TO DRAW 

it was my left shoulder Stibes put a bullet 
through. I can draw and shoot as good as 
ever.” 

“Yes?” Howger sneered. 

“Yeh! Howger, Crentz and Stibes are dead. 
Bob Draige has been run out of town. This 
here town of Cactusville is goin’ to be fairly 
clean from now on. Men won’t be robbed and 
murdered any more.” 

“Why tell me about it?” Howger demanded. 

“Because you’re the head of the Cactusville 
gang!” Ganley told him frankly. “I’ve got 
the goods on you, Howger! I’ve got evidence, 
and I can get more.” 

Howger’s face flamed red for an instant and 
then went dead-white again. This was, as he 
had feared, the show-down. He had only one 
hope—to bluff Ganley, or to fight it out with 
him and win. If he could do that, there was a 
chance that men would rally to him. At least, 
he thought, he would have time afterward to 
cash in and escape. He could be far away be¬ 
fore Sheriff Tom Thomas could get there with 
a posse and arrest him. 

“Ganley,” he said, “I think that you’re 
a big bluff! You’re talkin wild. I ain’t a bit 


286 


THE BANGERS’ CODE 


scared of that tin star on your breast. So I’m 
the head of the Cactusville gang, am I?” 

“Yeh! I said it!” 

“Then you’d better arrest me,” Howger 
said. “It’s your duty, Ganley. Put me under 
arrest, if you can!” 

Every man in the room gasped at this open 
defiance. They knew that the explosion was 
due at any instant now. But Dick Ganley 
smiled, as he made reply. 

“Right eager to be arrested, ain’t you?” he 
asked. “Want me to draw and shoot it out, 
do you?” 

“Perhaps that would be the best way, Gan¬ 
ley.” 

“Think that you can do better than Crentz 
and Stibes, do you?” 

“Possibly.” 

‘ ‘ TJh-huh! Maybe I’d rather see you stretch 
rope than go down with a bullet. ’ ’ 

Howger bent forward again, fighting to con¬ 
trol himself, knowing that there would be no 
chance for victory if he allowed anger to get 
the better of him, and the deputy remained 
cool. 

“Go ahead and arrest me, if you can,” How- 


THE DARE TO DRAW 287 

ger said. “It’s your duty, you know. Ganley, 
I think you’re afraid to try it. I’ll give you 
five minutes to do it, Ganley.” 

“Give me five minutes, huh? Think that 
you’re runnin’ things around here?” 

“You heard me, Ganley! Arrest me within 
five minutes, or you’re a bluff and a coward.” 

Howger waited an instant and then took a 
watch from his waistcoat pocket with his left 
hand. He held the watch out in front of him 
and glanced down at the dial. Ganley took a 
couple of steps forward. 

“Five minutes!” Howger said. 

Not a sound in the big room save the heavy 
breathing of men who believed they soon would 
look upon a tragedy. And then Dick Ganley’s 
even voice cut into that silence, like a knife. 

“Where did you get that watch, Howger?” 

“Don’t try to talk me out of it,” Howger 
said. “I’m givin’ you five minutes, Ganley, 
and not a second more. We’ll see if you’ve 
got any nerve.” 

“Where did you get that watch?” 

< < Why ? ’ ’ Howger sneered. 

“It’s Jack Matton’s watch,” Ganley said. 
“Jack Matton was my friend. About six 


288 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


months ago he was killed and robbed here in 
Cactusville. And that’s his watch. A lot of 
punchers down in Texas chipped in and bought 
it for him. I presented it. I know that watch, 
Howger. I reckon you’d better talk—and talk 
quick!” 

Howger saw his opportunity now. This was 
the time to compel Ganley to draw, when his 
mind was inflamed because of the sight of the 
watch. 

“Maybe it was Matton’s watch,” Howger 
said, “but it’s mine now. The spoils belong 
to the victor.” 

“So you killed Matton, did you?” Ganley 
demanded. 

Howger thought rapidly. If he confessed 
the crime and then killed the deputy, it would 
make no difference. Nobody else there could 
arrest him, and before the news got abroad 
he would be far away. And the confession 
would enrage Ganley. It would make him for¬ 
get that he was an officer of the law. He would 
draw and shoot. And Howger thought that 
he could draw just as quickly, shoot with as 
much accuracy, possibly emerge a victor. 


THE HARE TO DRAW 289 

He bent slightly forward again, ready, his 
right hand itching to get at his gun. 

“Yes, I shot Matton!” he said. “I shot the 
fool, and we stripped him! Your friend was 
he ? What have you got to say about it ?” 

“Howger- 

i i Draw, if you dare! ’ ’ Howger cried. ‘ ‘ Draw 
—you coward!” 

Ganley’s face went white. There flashed 
through his mind the old rule of the rangers— 
not to be the first to draw. 

“Draw yourself, Howger,’’ he commanded, 
“if you are not a coward! I’m givin’ you the 
chance. Go for your gun! Got paralysis in 
your hand?” 

Another instant of silence. Then the flash 
of flame, the roar of firing, the pungent odor 
of burning powder, the crash of a falling body! 


CHAPTER XXIV 


KING AND QUEEN 

I T had happened so quickly that scarcely 
half a dozen men in the Palace saw the 
entire thing correctly. 

A figure had lurched from the crowd, a man 
holding a six-gun that rained flame and lead. 
Snake Howger, drawing mechanically, fired at 
almost the same instant. Ganley, going for his 
gun when he saw Howger’s move, fired from 
the hip, then reeled to one side. 

Howger whirled and crashed to the floor, a 
bullet through his heart, another in his left 
shoulder. Dick Ganley, swaying against the 
bar, his weapon still in his hand, fought to 
remain conscious. There was a second wound 
in his shoulder now. And into the cleared space 
dashed a man who frothed at the mouth, whose 
eyes were like those of a maddened beast— 
Bob Draige. 

29 $ 


KING AND QUEEN 291 

“There, you dog!” Draige shrieked. “I’ll 
show you, Snake! Stay inside and play poker 
while they’re brandin’ me, will you? Won’t 
come to help me, huh? It’s your fault, but I 
reckon I’ve settled things now.” 

A dozen men hurled themselves upon him 
and bore him to the floor and tore the smoking 
weapon from his grasp. A dozen more rushed 
to Dick Ganley’s side. 

They understood now. Bob Draige, smart¬ 
ing with the indignity that had been forced 
upon him, blamed Howger in his crooked brain. 
He had fired at Howger and had got his man. 
At the same instant Howger had started to 
draw against Ganley. Ganley, seeing that, had 
drawn also. Howger’s bullet had struck Gan¬ 
ley in the shoulder. Ganley’s shot would have 
gone through Snake’s heart, except that Draige 
already had put one there, and Howger, al¬ 
ready starting to fall, the deputy’s shot went 
a bit high, into the shoulder. 

Ganley swayed weakly again. 

“You!” He pointed to one of the punch¬ 
ers. “You’re—deputy! Arrest—Draige— 
murder!” 


292 


THE EANGERS’ CODE 


Then he slipped down beside the bar, and 
men caught him, as he fell. 

A dash of water in his face brought him 
back to consciousness. At first he could not 
understand. Somebody was treating his 
shoulder roughly. Jessie was kneeling beside 
him, weeping, one of her arms supporting him. 
Sheriff Tom Thomas was standing before him, 
and Myrtle Baines was at his side. 

He must have died, Ganley told himself. 
How could all these folks be there in the Pal¬ 
ace? But even as he thought this, the old 
sheriff knelt on his other side. 

“Good boy, Ganley!” he said. “We rode 
like the wind to get here in time, but it seems 
we weren’t needed.” 

“Wh-what’s that?” Ganley gasped. 

“This young lady, Miss Baines, learned that 
you had been put in jail, and that they intended 
to do for you later. So she borrowed your 
horse and started to ride to Goldland for help. 
That took some nerve, Ganley.” 

“I—I reckon!” Ganley gasped. 

“And she met us on the road. I got a hunch 
that this would be the show-down. Court hap¬ 
pened to be postponed a few days, and so I 


293 


KING AND QUEEN 

got a posse together and started over to see 
how you were gettin’ along. She met us on 
the road, and you can bet that we did some 
ridin’ after she told us.” 

“Uh-huh!” Ganley said weakly. 

“But you didn’t need us, it seems. Got 
helped out of jail and handled the gang your¬ 
self. Don’t worry about them two wounds in 
your shoulder—they won’t amount to much.” 

“I ain’t worryin’,” Ganley said. 

“I reckon that you’ve cleaned up the town. 
You can stay on the job here now and have it 
easy. Charlie Rennis has got the bridal suite 
ready for you at the hotel. ’ ’ 

“Br-bridal suite?” Ganley gasped. 

And then he turned his head and saw Jessie 
Bangan’s rosy face. 

“Oh, yeh—bridal suite!” he said. “Want 
to thank—Miss Baines!” 

Myrtle Baines stood before him. 

“I didn’t do much,” she said. “I hated to 
see them treat a decent man so-” 

“You sure would have helped a lot if Jessie 
hadn’t got me out of the jail,” Ganley told 
her. “Th-thanks!” 

They lifted him to his feet and helped him 


294 


THE RANGERS’ CODE 


toward the door. Howger’s body had been re¬ 
moved. Somebody started a cheer, and the 
others j oined in. A lanky cow-puncher sprang 
to the top of the bar. 

“Gents,’’ he cried, “this here Ganley is a 
regular he man. He saved us some dollars by 
pointin’ out a card cheat and shootin’ up the 
gang. And he’s goin’ to be needin’ a weddin’ 
present soon, so I’m given to understand. I’ve 
got a two-gallon hat here, and it’ll hold a lot 
of money. The line forms at the right. Thank 
you, suh! Ten dollars from this gen’man! 
Who’s next? Thank you! Chip in lively, 
boys. Furniture comes high these days, and 
we sure want to furnish the cottage well. 
Give him a good home, and he’ll stay here. 
And that’s where we want him to stay. Thank 
you, suh!” 

And so Dick Ganley went out upon the street 
and along it toward the hotel, Jessie on one 
side of him and Sheriff Tom Thomas on the 
other, Myrtle Baines behind, half a dozen of 
the posse loitering along. 

Charlie Rennis met them at the door of the 
hotel and led the way to the room that he had 
prepared. 


1 


KING AND QUEEN 295 

“Glad you’re able to come back, deputy,” 
Rennis said. “You’re the first one that ever 
lasted. But I knew you’d do it! Never 
doubted it for a minute, deputy! Right this 
way with him, folks. He’ll be up and around 
again in a couple of days. I ’ll feed him mighty 
good!” 

They stopped just inside the room. Dick 
Ganley looked at all of them and smiled his 
favorite smile. Myrtle Baines, a wistful ex¬ 
pression on her face, turned slowly away and 
went down the stairs. She had seen the look 
in Ganley’s face, as his eyes had met those of 
Jessie Bangan. And Myrtle Baines was a good 
loser. 

“Ain’t any King of Cactusville, though,” 
Ganley was trying to tell the sheriff. “Only a 
joke!” 

“So I understand,” Tom Thomas replied. 
“But I reckon that there is a King of Cactus¬ 
ville now, from the way the boys down in the 
street are talkin’ about you. King—yeh—and 
some queen, too!” 

“Some queen!” Ganley said sleepily, as he 
tightened his clasp on Jessie Bangan’s hand. 

THE END 


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